Adjutant
by Chaetura
Summary: [LevixFem!Reader] As a young woman who wants to devote her life for the survey corps, going up in the ranks is a dream come true - But becoming Lance Corporal's adjutant wasn't exactly what you wished for. Who knows, maybe it will turn out better than you thought?
1. Chapter 1 - Dropping Like Flies

You all had high hopes for this expedition trip- But instead of a great success, it had been the worst screw up in a long time. Everything went to shit at the very minute your squad entered to the forest of giant trees. Two other squads that were supposed to wait you there were already swiped off, leaving only a bloody, gory mess for you to find.

"What… What the…" Berchwald, your good friend and a comrade, stuttered as you two landed on a sturdy branch to estimate the situation. There was 4 members in each squad- In your squad, among you and Berchwald, there was Carleigh and Ellie, both also good friends of yours.

"Get a hold of yourself, Ber!" You stated firmly when he started to gag for the sight below you. "Don't let your guard down, the ones responsible for all of this are still down there somewhere." You tried your best to seem calm and confident for the sake of your comrades, but the truth was you were just as horrified as everyone else. You hadn't seen a single flare on your way there, so everything must have happened fast. In other words, there was something really bad in those woods. Hands shaking, you loaded a blue shell into your flare gun. You had barely time to shoot the signal flare, telling other following squads to retreat, when ground began shaking.

"South-east, behind the trees!" Ellie shouted from the branch next to you.

"Two normal types… And pretty small ones, too." You frowned as the titans wobbled towards the tree Ellie and Carleigh were taking shelter on. "But where's-"

"[f/n]! Ber!" Carleigh screamed. Her hysterical voice told you it was too late already when you turned your gaze to your comrade next to you. When your eyes locked in with Berchwald's, it felt like time had stopped. That look on his face in that fracture of a second- He looked confused, but not scared. Still unaware of the large hand that had already almost wrapped its fingers around him, about to grip him so hard it would crush every single of his bones.

"BER!" You reached over to him, but it was too late. His broad-shouldered, bear like body looked so small when that monster took a hold of him- The loud cracking sound his bones made haunted you for rest of your life.

Titan's other hand grabbed on the branch only few feets from you, making the tree shake so hard you lost your balance. The titan pulled itself up just enough to try to grab you with its teeth, snapping its jaws together only few inches away from you- If you hadn't lose your balance and fell off the branch, it would have gotten you as well.

"[f/n]!" Ellie's voice snapped you out of your paralyzation, just in time for you to straighten your fall and swing yourself back to safety. "It's an abnormal! That motherfucker jumped all the way up to you!" She continued as you landed on the branch next to her.

"Damn it… How much gas you got left?" You tried to come up with a plan. Fight or flee?

"Less than a half tank… Maybe ⅓." Ellie estimated.

"Carleigh?" You glanced at her on the other side of you. "Carleigh?"

"Ber…" She whimpered the name of your lost friend, shaking like a leaf. "We are all going to die…"

"Carleigh!" Ellie grabbed on her shoulders. "Pull yourself together! How much gas do you have?!"

" _Shit…"_ You cursed in your mind, keeping your eyes on the abnormal. " _She's in shock. We can't escape if she's in that condition... Gas wouldn't probably last either."_

Carleigh screamed as the tree shaked. Bunch of lesser titans had gathered around the tree, smashing the trunk with their hands as they tried to climb up.

"Ellie. Shoot the black flare, just in case if there's still a squad close by." You doubted that anyone would come for your help, but you had to at least try. "So what do you say, can two of us we take that down?" You smirked at Ellie.

"Probably not." She chuckled tiredly and raised the flare gun, sending a black trail of smoke up in the air. "But we can try."

"But how… how about me?" Carleigh lifted her gaze, still sobbing uncontrollably. "I need to fight too!"

"Carleigh…" Ellie sighed, giving you a meaningful look. You both knew it was a suicide if she went to the battlefield in that state of mind. "Just… wait here. Alright? Keep those lesser ones here so we can concentrate on that big one."

Leaving sobbing Carleigh behind you, Ellie and you launched towards the abnormal titan. In a silent agreement, you both went straight for the legs. This abnormal one didn't stand up straight, but crawled on all fours like a weird, twisted animal. Normally you cut off the legs to have a better access to the nape of the neck, but in this case you wanted to make sure it wouldn't jump around anymore. With that ability, this titan was way too unpredictable. Getting a clean cut on the tendon turned out to be more difficult you had thought- Since the titan wasn't standing up, you needed to be extra precise. Luckily, both of you succeeded with a first try.

"I'm going for the kill!" Ellie shouted, swinging herself towards the titan's upper body.

" _Yes!"_ You cheered in your mind as you landed to the safe distance from the titan. " _There's no way she could miss… Maybe we can make it-"_

It was too early to celebrate. You didn't have time to process what was happening when you saw Carleigh dash towards the titan as well.

"Carleigh?!" Ellie flustered, forgetting her target. "What the-"

"What the hell is she doing..?!" You panicked. "If she's here, where are-?" You quickly turned around to see the lesser titans rushing after Carleigh, towards the abnormal and Ellie. Carleigh was now filled with rage, seeking for the revenge for your lost comrade and unable to think straight.

" _She's getting all of us killed..!"_ Launching yourself back to the battlefield, you began to take down the normal types as fast as you could. "Ellie! Ellie, get out of there!"

No answer. Slashing down another titan, you bought enough time to glance over to her direction. The sight made your heart sank. The abnormal titan was crushing her under its palm- It probably managed to catch her when Carleigh dashed into the scene. Carleigh was trying to cut the nape of the neck with poor results, constantly dashing back after every missed cut. She was panicking again, trying to save her comrade whose fate she had sealed with her own foolish actions.

"Ellie… Carleigh…" Tears rolling down your cheeks, you watched her useless fight. "Carleigh… Ellie is… already…" You tried to shout, but your voice was stuck in your throat. It was all over. You were doomed. With only less than ⅓ tank of gas left, you wouldn't be able to escape even if you wanted to.

You squealed when one of the lesser titans flung its hand at you- You managed to avoid the hit, but came crashing down to the ground. Struggling to get back on your feet, you saw it reach down towards you. Suddenly, with a flash of steel, the titan started to lose its balance.

"What… the…?" You whimpered in disbelief. " _Someone cutted its neck?!"_ But, the danger wasn't over yet- Slowly, the titan began to fall towards you. You had barely time to curse in your mind when you felt an abrupt tug and you were pulled up in the air- Not by a titan, thankfully. Glancing down, you saw an arm wrapped tightly around your waist. Glancing to your right, you whimpered the name of your saviour: "Captain Levi?"


	2. Chapter 2 - Returning a Favor

"Are you hurt?" Levi asked as he let you down on your wobbly feet.

"No… I don't think so…" Your voice was shaking from the pure shock. Kneeling down on the tree branch, you glanced down to the battlefield. "You… you really came…"

Levi's squad was taking down the titans, already almost done with the normal types. By a quick look, you didn't see Carleigh anywhere. It was difficult to say if she had made it or not, but you feared the worst.

"You are probably running out of gas. Stay here, we'll take care of the rest." He stated coolly, joining his comrades to the battlefield before you could say a word.

All you could do was stay put and follow the battle from afar. Everything seemed to go smoothly- One or two lesser types emerged from the woods every once in awhile, but Levi's team took them down easily. Watching Captain in action was astonishing like always. When you saw him and Oluo going for the abnormal type, you remembered something- Heart racing, you squinted your eyes when you tried to take a look of its legs. Cuts were healed.

"It can jump!" You shouted on top of your lungs. "That motherfucker can JUMP!"

It was no use. They couldn't hear you. Oluo was targeting titan's neck when it leaped up in the air, bashing its hand towards Lance Corporal. Levi managed to dodge the hit, but the creature grabbed on his wires instead. Oluo was fast, cutting the tendon of titan's arm making it drop Heichou who it was dangling up in the air from the wires.

"Hey! I need some help here!" Oluo yelled at his comrades, but they were too busy with other titans. Cursing, he kept luring the abnormal one towards the treeline, away from Lance Corporal who was still laying on the ground.

"He's not getting up..?" He hadn't dropped from a deadly height, but apparently the impact was enough to knock him out. "Oh shit, shit… Why me..?" You groaned, trying to estimate the amount of gas you had left. You didn't have too much time to think your move- Smallish, normal type which had been drooling after you under the tree, had noticed raven haired man on the ground and started to wobble towards him. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" You yelped, leaping down from the branch. Aiming your grappling hooks straight onto its neck, you dashed towards the titan. With a perfect cut, you took the beast down- Tightening the still attached wires to keep you stable, you stood on the titan's back as it fell down. When titan's face smashed into the ground, you holstered your blades and sprinted towards the unconscious Heichou as fast as you could.

"Hey!" You grabbed on his shoulders, shaking him almost violently. "Hey! Wake up!" For your relief, he slowly opened his eyes.

"...the fuck..?" Levi cringed for the pain as he struggled to get into a half sitting position, rubbing his aching head with his hand.

"Can you get up? We need to get out of here-" When you glanced around the battlefield, you noticed a titan behind the trees next to you. Locking eyes with the monster made the cold sweat run down on your back- There was no time to lose.

"Shit, shit, shit..!" You cursed as you struggled to get Lance Corporal's arm over your shoulder, wrapping your other arm firmly around his waist to lift him on his feet. "Your legs still work, right?! Now would be a damn good time to use them!"

"What the fuck you think you are doing, shitty brat?" Levi hissed, trying to put more weight on his wobbly feet. "Get the hell out of here, you are just getting both of us killed-"

"With all respect, Lance Corporal… Please shut the fuck up and walk!" You screamed furiously as you began to drag him among the treeline. The titan had slowly emerged from the woods- Luckily it wasn't a very fast one, but would catch up with you sooner or later. "Come on, lean against me for a while!" You commanded, squeezing tighter on his waist as you let go of his arm. You pulled out your flare gun and shot the titan straight into the face- The smoke screen would give you enough time to get to the safety. But where would you go?

"There!" Levi read your mind, pointing at the large tree not too far away.

It took you a while to realize what he meant, but soon you noticed a rather large gap between the roots. When you got closer, you saw there was indeed a cave under the tree, well hidden by the roots hanging in front of the entrance.

"Let's hope there aren't any angry badgers down there…" You mumbled as you squeezed into the cavern with Heichou. Glancing over your shoulder, you saw the titan was still struggling with the smoke, most probably unable to see where you went. By a quick look, you couldn't see any members of Levi's squad either.

Cave was surprisingly large from the inside- And no badgers in sight. Out of breath, you struggled to sat him down next to the wall and flopped next to him.

"Are we safe here?" You panted as you wiped your sweaty forehead with your sleeve.

"I sure hope so." Levi stated in his usual bored tone, like the situation didn't bother him one bit. He glanced at you, about to say something when his eyes locked on your arm. "Are you hurt?"

"Huh?" You blinked confused and looked at your arm- Only now you noticed that you had blood splattered all over your arm. "What? No, I don't think I'm…" You rolled up your sleeve, carefully examining your arm. "No, I'm fine."

"Good." He mumbled. "Probably just someone else's blood."

"Uh… Captain?"

"What?"

You said nothing, just pointed at the quickly spreading red stain on his shirt.

"Oh. Great." Levi sighed, carefully lifting the hem of his jacket. "It's more on the back side… Could you take a look?"

"Yeah, of course." You crawled to his other side while he took his cape and jacket off so you could take a better look. The wound didn't seem fatal, but it wasn't a very pretty sight either. "Um… There's… a piece…"

"There's what?" Levi glanced at you over his shoulder.

"A piece of metal sticking from your back." You took a closer look. "Probably from a shattered blade. Wound doesn't seem very deep, but it bleeds pretty badly. Ready?"

"Ready for wha-" He clenched his teeth middle of his sentence when you abruptly pulled the piece off. "Fucking hell!"

"There we go." You threw the blade shard to the other side of the cave. "Now we need something to tie the wound with…" You took your scarf off, estimating the length for a moment. "This will do. Take your shirt off."

"You sure are something." Levi mumbled as he obeyed, beginning to unbutton his shirt. "Probably the first cadet to have nerve to command me around like that…"

Thankfully he was sitting his back at you so he couldn't see how fiercely you blushed. Last two hours had been so crazy and emotionally exhausting that you had forgot how to act around your superior. Like all the other soldiers, you respected Lance Corporal Levi greatly- And today, among the other nice things, you had told him to 'shut the fuck up'... Not forgetting you kept cursing like a drunken sailor the whole time. Cringing for the memory, you tried to focus on patching him up. After you helped him to take the shirt off, you couldn't help but stare at his toned back.

" _Oh damn… He. Is. Fucking. Gorgeous."_ You fumbled with the scarf, biting your lower lip. You had always thought he was pretty hot, but you rarely had an opportunity for an eye candy like this. Even in the dim light of the cave you couldn't help but admire his perfectly ivory skin and its contrast against his jet black hair. Suppressing your mental nosebleed, you tried to focus. You fumbled with your pockets until you found a handkerchief, beginning to carefully wipe the wound clean. After that, you folded it, placing it on the wound before starting to wrap your scarf around his torso. With every layer, you had to reach your arms around him so your chest pressed against his back. " _Oh boy, this is starting to get bit too intense for me…"_ You felt the mental nosebleed return as your cheek brushed against his hair. You tied the scarf tightly on its place and helped Levi with getting his shirt and jacket back on.

"That should do it for now." You wiped your blood smeared hands on your pants. "But I hope we get you back to the headquarters soon so they can patch you up properly."

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Levi stated coolly. He was expressionless like always, but you could tell he had something in his mind. "Don't you think it has been awfully quiet for a while now?"


	3. Chapter 3 - Marshmallows

You two sat there in silence, trying to hear what was happening outside. Levi was right: Forest was dead silent. You got up and made your way to the entrance, carefully peeking out. No titans, no survey corps soldiers. Battlefield was empty. Thankfully, you couldn't see any new bodies either.

"They will come back to us. Relax." Levi tried to calm your nerves when you returned after shooting up the second flare.

"I sure hope so." You groaned as you flopped on the ground next to him. "It's getting dark soon…"

There was a chance that you two had to spend the night out there, so Levi sended you off to collect some twigs and branches for a tiny campfire.

"Tch, I WOULD help but as you can see, my condition…" You mimicked his stoic look as you collected the twigs. "Oh really? And I just thought that earlier he said he was fine!"

You reached down to snatch another small branch from the ground, when you abruptly pulled your hand back in a shock- Hidden in the grass next to the branch, there was an arm. No body intact. Slapping your hand on your mouth, you tried not to gag at the gore sight. Seeing stuff like this was sadly familiar for you, but in this situation you couldn't help but wonder if that arm had belonged to some of your lost friends. You glanced over your shoulder to the battlefield. You didn't know if you actually wanted to see your comrade's mutilated corpse, but you couldn't help but look. Part of you was relieved when you found nothing but gory mess, unrecognizable bits and pieces scattered around… But the fact why there was nothing to find made your stomach turn. Berchwald, Ellie, Carleigh… They were all devoured by those mad beasts. You slowly paced to the spot where the abnormal had been wriggling when you cut the legs. When you saw the puddle of blood where it had crushed Ellie, you finally broke into tears. Dropping the branches, you fell on your knees, muffling your screams into your hands as you let it all pour out. From the squad n.o 26, you were only one left.

* * *

 **Levi's POV**

"What is taking her so long?" Levi sighed, getting annoyed for the waiting. He had carefully listened for any noises from the outside, the silence told him there wasn't at least any titans to worry about. Only a few minutes later, Levi cursed as he struggled to get up. The wound was aching like hell every time he moved, but waiting idly was simply too frustrating.

Outside he was greeted by a chilly evening air- Apparently the cave provided some warmth, but during the night it would get freezing in there without the campfire. Holding his side and hissing for the pain, Levi looked around. [f/n] was crouched middle of the field, shaking like a leaf. Seeing death in the battlefield was something Levi had gotten used to, every killed comrade making him more and more numb for the pain and horror it used to cause him. But seeing those who suffered the pain of losing someone close to them? That was something he never would get used to.

Levi had to admit that this young cadet had made quite an impression- Only survivor from squads 24, 25 and 26. Even after watching her comrades drop like flies, she had performed astonishingly- And even saved his life.

He stood there and wondered if he should go to her- But what he would say? Give her a speech about honorable deaths or a better tomorrow? Empty words that didn't fix anything. Quietly, he returned to the hideout before she could see him.

* * *

 **Reader's POV**

Levi didn't say a word when you returned. He surely noticed that your eyes were red and swollen from all the crying, but at the moment you couldn't care less. You dropped the firewood middle of the cave and sat down next to the wall as Levi began to prepare the campfire. Hugging your knees close to your body, you wiped rest of the tears away, letting out a quiet snort. You almost startled a bit when you opened your eyes- Levi was offering you a handkerchief, keeping his gaze on the campfire. Embarrassed but also surprised for the kind gesture, you took the tiny piece of cloth.

"That has to do." Levi threw couple small branches into the tiny campfire. "We can't put up a too big fire in here... but that's better than nothing."

"All we need is marshmallows and ghost stories." You chuckled but only got an asking look from Levi. "You know, because we are camping..? Gah, whatever… So what now? We'll just wait?"

"There isn't much else we could do right now. I suggest we try to get some sleep."

"Sounds good... I'm exhausted." You yawned, starting to look for a good spot to curl up.

"Here."

"Huh..?" You frowned. Levi had laid down on his side, patting the spot on the ground next to him. Did he really meant what you think he did?

"Night will be cold. Sharing our body heat will keep both of us at least somewhat warm." He stated.

"Uh…" You hesitated. Levi wasn't exactly the most approachable person, and the way his steel gray eyes were locked on yours made you even more uneasy. "Do you think that's really necessary..?"

"It's an order." He started to get annoyed for your protesting, patting the ground again in a more demanding manner.

"Well… Alright…" Admitting your defeat, you made your way around the campfire and flopped on the ground next to him.

"Closer."

That command made you blush fiercely, more in annoyment than embarrassment. With a sigh, you inched closer to him. Apparently, this didn't please him- Abruptly wrapping his arm around your waist, Levi tugged you closer until his chest was pressed against your back.

"There. Now, try to get some sleep." He stated, pulling his cloak around both of you.


	4. Chapter 4 - Back to the Civilization

" _What was that?"_

You snapped awake early in the morning, thinking you heard something. After listening carefully for a minute, all you could hear was Heichou's steady breath right next to your ear- He had squeezed even closer during the night, now almost burying his face into your hair. Before you even had time to blush, you heard something again: Familiar voices from a distance, calling for both of you.

"Captain!" You sprung up. "They're here!"

"...What?" Levi slightly opened his eyes, annoyed for a rude wake up.

Without a word, you rushed out so quickly you almost stumbled on your own feet.

"Armin!" You shrieked in excitement as you saw a familiar figure standing middle of the field.

"[f/n]?!" He quickly sprung towards you after hearing your voice. "Thank god! Everyone, we found them!" He shouted.

"Are you serious?! Pipsqueak really made it!"

You turned around to see Jean land next to you.

"Honestly, that's some legendary shit!" He laughed.

"Is Captain with you?" Armin asked as he loaded his flare gun.

"Oh right!" You slapped your hand on your forehead. "Yes!"

Armin and Jean watched in confusion as you sprinted back to the cave, just in time to help extremely pissed off Lance Corporal out. Only minutes after Armin shot the flare to tell everyone the rescue mission was a success, Petra and Oluo dashed into the scene as well.

"Captain!" Petra yelped as they ran towards you. "We… Uh…"

"We came back for you, but neither of you were nowhere to be seen, and-" Oluo continued Petra's sentence, but Levi silenced both of them with a single glare.

"Save your excuses to the report." Levi snapped at his subordinates. "Let's just get out of here as soon as possible."

After you and Levi changed your empty gas tanks to full ones, all of you headed towards the edge of the forest. Levi assured he was capable of using the maneuver gear even with his injury, but you couldn't help but keep a close eye on him on your way through the forest.

* * *

"Cadet [l/n]!" Levi stopped you on your way to the main building.

"Yes, Captain?" You sighed- You were dying for a hot shower and a proper meal, hoping he would state his business quickly and let you go on your way.

"Good job out there. And…" He ran his fingers through his coal black hair, hesitating for a second before continuing. "I don't think I ever thanked you."

"What?" You blinked confused. "You mean..? Nah, everyone would have done the same in that situation." You gave him an awkward smile. "Besides, you saved my sorry ass too... so I guess we are even." With a lazy wave of a hand, you quickly paced towards the main entrance, leaving Heichou standing there to watch you go on your way.

* * *

"[f/n], back from the death!" Sasha giggled from the upper bunk as you flopped on yours below hers.

"Thanks a lot for the trust!" You laughed, making her squeal as you kicked the bottom of her bed. "Come on, did you really think you would get rid of me this easily?!" You grinned.

"Spending a night in those woods?" Krista joined the conversation, sitting on the edge of your bed. "Just thinking about it gives me the creeps!"

"It wasn't that bad, honestly." You shrugged. "But just because we happened to find a good hiding spot, that is. Otherwise we would have been gobbled up by titan in no time."

"An idea about spending a night alone with Captain Levi gives me the creeps!" Sasha laughed. "He has so... unsettling aura."

You giggled a bit for her joke, instinctively glancing over to the bunk next to you. Feeling a nasty twist on your guts, you looked at the Ellie's and Carleigh's empty beds.

* * *

Two days later, you had just finished tightening your harness straps as Jean walked into girl's dorm in the morning.

"[f/n]! They want you to check in Commander's office after breakfast." He stated as he walked over to you.

"Jean!" Krista yelped. "You can't just walk in here like that, someone of us could have been undressed!"

"But none of you wasn't." Jean shrugged. "Too bad." He added with a mischievous grin.

"Erwin's office? Did anyone said why?" You frowned, tugging your boots on.

"Nope." Jean shook his head. "But I'd guess they just want to discuss about your report from the latest mission."

"What's that?" Mikasa nodded at the package Jean was holding.

"Oh, right!" Jean fumbled with the parcel, weighing it in his hands like trying to guess what was wrapped into the brown paper. "This was outside your dorm. It has your name on it, [f/n]." He grinned as he threw the package to you. "Maybe from a secret admirer of yours?"

"I highly doubt it." Rolling your eyes, you began to unwrap the parcel.

"What's in it?" Sasha peeked over Krista's shoulder, both of them eager to see what was in the package. Even Jean seemed interested, not making any intention of leaving until the secret would be revealed.

"A scarf?" You pulled out a [f/c] piece of fabric from the parcel.

"Let me see!" Krista rushed over to you and snatched the scarf from you before you could say a word.

"A scarf?" Jean seemed disappointed and turned away to leave. "How boring."

"Whoa, is this angora?" Krista admired your gift, pressing the soft fabric against her cheek. "This had to cost a fortune!"

"When you are done with it, maybe I can take a look too?" You scowled at her.

"So who's the admirer?" Sasha glanced at the empty wrappers on your lap. "Was there any note or anything?"

"Geez, there is no admirer!" You snatched the scarf back from Krista. "And no, there wasn't anything else than just the scarf."

"If it isn't from an admirer, then who it is from?" Ymir, who had been following the conversation from afar, lifted her eyebrow.

"Uh… I don't know." You tried to look more puzzled than you actually were. You didn't want to mention it, but you had one person in mind. Could it be just such a big coincidence that you had just completely ruined your scarf by using it as an emergency bandage when patching up Heichou?


	5. Chapter 5 - Promotion

Eyes locked on Commander's office door, you sat in the hallway waiting to be called in. Not knowing why they even wanted you there made you quite nervous, twiddling your thumbs and tapping your feet against the wooden floor.

" _What the hell is taking so long?"_ You frowned to yourself. " _Let's just get this over with it already!"_ Longer you waited, more anxious you got.

* * *

 **Levi's POV**

"I do trust on your judgment and have no reason to opposite this motion, but…" Erwin went through the papers on his desk. "I did read the reports about the latest expedition, so I can tell Cadet [l/n] made quite an impression. Still, I'd expect you to choose someone from your team for this position." He lifted his gaze from the papers, glancing at Levi who was leaning against the window frame and staring at the gray sky outside. "For a cadet, it's a rather unusual promotion. Yes, she was a top of her class and has performed in the field very well, but… Why her?"

"Didn't you say you trust my judgment?" Raven haired man stated in an uninterested tone, without bothering to turn his gaze from the window.

"Yes. But it doesn't hurt to reassure me."

"Fine. If that's what it takes for us to get over with this…" Levi sighed, correcting his cravat as he turned to face Erwin. "My squad members have their own places. There's no need to mix it up- And besides, she will be placed into my team so there will be no impractical issues with her nomination. And, why Cadet [l/n]?" Clicking his tongue, Levi crossed his arms over his chest. "She showed great determination and devotion to survey corps, ability to work under pressure… And most importantly, she respects me but isn't afraid to speak out her mind if she feels a need to do so. Anything else? Right, she had guts to sprint across the battlefield with empty gas tanks and shoot titan to the face with a flare gun. All that after watching her comrades being ripped apart one by one. In other words, she can keep her feelings and business apart. Do you want me to continue?"

"Let's just call her in." Erwin sighed.

* * *

 **Reader's POV**

You sat on a chair across Erwin's desk, cautiously glancing at him and Lance Corporal who was standing next to him. After a nerve wrecking minute as Erwin fiddled with his documents, he spoke up.

"Cadet [l/n]... You are probably wondering why you're here. No need to worry, you're not in trouble what so ever." Erwin gave you a calming smile after noticing your nervousness. "More the opposite, actually. As you can see, due to recent events, you need to be placed into a new team. My condolences for your comrades." He added with a serious look. "We lost many good soldiers that day."

" _Oh right... So that's why I'm here."_ With an inner sigh of relief, you relaxed a bit more.

"But, in your case, we won't be placing you into other cadet squad like normally in these situations. By judging your actions during the last expedition mission, I have decided to approve the proposal regarding to your promotion." Erwin stated, writing his signature on a document before handing it over to you.

"...Promotion?" You flustered as you took the paper. No-one had told you anything about this!

"From tomorrow on, you will be placed into special operations squad and your title will be changed to adjutant. Congratulations." Erwin gave you another smile and a nod, but you were too busy reading the document and trying to figure out what was going on.

"Adjutant?" You blinked confused, first glancing at Commander and then Lance Corporal. "Whose adjutant-" When your eyes locked with Levi's, the reality sank in. " _Oh shit."_

* * *

"A promotion?! That's great!" Armin cheered.

"She doesn't seem too excited, though." Eren tilted his head, watching you sitting down face pressed against the table surface.

"Adjutant… Motherfucker Lance Corporal Levi's Adjutant." You whimpered. "Probably the lamest job ever."

"Lamest job ever… and an extra zero added to the end of your paycheck, I assume?" Connie grinned and took another bite from his bread.

"Hey, it doesn't sound that bad, really… At least you are moving up in the ranks, right?" Sasha patted your back.

"Not bad? I thought that couple days ago you complained about how unsettling his aura was!" You raised your head, gazing daggers at her. "And I'll be around him A LOT from now on! Probably I'll be doing all the same stuff as you, just throwing on top of it all the shit he delegates to me."

"Cheer up!" Jean chanted, playfully wrapping his arm around your shoulders. "Promotion is a promotion. We should celebrate!"

"I see where you're going with this." You lifted your eyebrow, but couldn't help but smile. "Fine. Thanks to that extra zero, drinks are on me tonight!"

* * *

"When I said that drinks are on me tonight… I meant about our little group, not… Ugh… Whatever." You groaned as you watched the packed lounge, full of cheery cadets. "Is that..?!" You squinted your eyes to see across the room.

"C'mon, we are supposed to have fun here! Here, have a drink!" Connie shoved a beer into your hands.

"Erwin Smith is getting drunk on my wallet?!" You gasped in horrified disbelief. "Pixis was expected to show up, he can smell free booze from miles away- But Erwin Smith too?!" You frowned. "Hmph, fine! Connie, my boy!"

"Yeah?"

"A bottle of anise liqueur! Chop chop!" You clapped your hands, now filled with determination. "If we are going to party... let's party hard."

* * *

"Aw, come on, Sasha!" You slapped your hand on your forehead. "Who Jean has a crush on? That's the stupidest truth -question ever, we all know the answer already!"

"I couldn't come up with anything else..." Sasha pouted.

"BUT! Jean has to say it aloud." Ymir grinned mischievously at Jean.

"Gah… Is it too late to take dare instead?" Jean blushed.

You, Sasha, Jean, Connie and Ymir sat on the lounge floor, middle of playing spin-the-bottle. Everybody started to be more or less drunk and the atmosphere was high. While Ymir pestered Jean, you casted your eye around the room. Captain Levi had joined the party as well, middle of conversation with Erwin Smith and Dot Pixis not too far from you. Your gaze stopped on him only briefly- But almost like feeling your eyes on him, Levi glanced at your direction as well. Quickly turning your gaze back down, you tried to act like you didn't even notice him- But Connie saw the exchange of looks.

"Is it just me, or are [f/n] and Lance Corporal eyeing each other?" He smirked viciously.

"No!" You quickly snapped at him. Maybe even bit too quickly, only making his grin grow wider.

"Makes sense." Jean chuckled, opening another beer. "[f/n] made such a big impression on him during their NIGHT TOGETHER in the woods." He cooed, giving you a wink.

"No! Nothing happened! Argh… Can't we just keep playing?" You groaned. "Connie, it's your turn!"

"Alright, alright." Connie laughed and spun the empty wine bottle. The vicious grin steadily returned to his face as the bottle slowly stopped at you. "Well, well, well! Seems like we are not going to let this matter slip after all!"

"Dare! I want dare!" You yelped.

"Having something to hide?" Connie smirked. "Don't worry, even if we can't squeeze the truth out of you, I can come up with something… even worse."

Look in his eyes told you it was going to be bad. You sat there paralyzed of fear, others eagerly waiting for your judgment.

"7 minutes of heaven… with Captain Levi!"


	6. Chapter 6 - Seven Minutes

Connie's announcement made everyone burst out in almost hysterical laughter. Except you, of course- You sat there paralyzed, still unable to believe your ears.

"N-n-no..!" You stuttered horrified. "That's too much! I'll start as his adjutant tomorrow, damn it! And besides, he isn't even playing so-" Your heart started racing like a crazy when you saw Levi glance at your merry bunch. Connie had almost shouted out the dare, he probably heard his name and now was interested what everyone was so hysterical about.

" _Don't come over here, don't come over here…"_ Clenching your fists, you repeated the silent prayer in your mind, eyes locked on the bottle on the floor.

"Oi brats, what's the ruckus about?"

" _FUCK!"_

Your stomach turned as you heard his monotonous voice, cautiously glancing up just in case you had just imagined it. Nope. There he was.

"Ah, Captain!" Jean wiped tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. "As you can see, we are playing a little game here…"

"Jean. I am going to give you a 7 minutes of hell if you say another word." Look on your eyes was so murdering that Jean actually hesitated if he should continue or not, instead just taking a long gulp of his beer.

"We are middle of a dare on [f/n], but we would need you to participate to go on with the game. Please, it won't take too much of your time! What do you say?" Connie tried to hold his laughter as he continued Jean's sentence, eyes locked on Heichou so you couldn't try to silence him with your gaze.

Slowly, Levi turned his gaze to you, pondering the options of the situation. Giving him a pleading look, you shook your head, telling him to refuse.

"Sure."

" _What the actual fuck?!"_

Cold sweat running down your back, you quickly glanced around trying to look for compassion from your friends- But Ymir and Sasha already stood at the open closet door, gesturing you to get in with a mischievous grin on both of their faces.

"The dare is called 7 minutes of heaven. In other words, you and [f/n] need to spend 7 minutes in that closet." Connie pointed at the closet across the room.

"Alright." He stated coolly, locking his eyes on you again. "Shall we?"

"What?!" You flustered. "No!"

"Don't be such a party-pooper." Levi sighed in boredom and headed towards the closet.

"Are you all serious?!" Was all you could utter before Connie and Jean tugged you up and dragged you across the room, managing to shove you into the closet despite your protesting. You were about to try to escape, but froze as Levi blocked your way out.

"7 minutes." He glanced over his shoulder before closing the door after himself.

It took a couple seconds for your eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, but you could feel his presence very close to you- Your heart jumped as you realized that his face was literally only inches away from yours. Trying to back away more, you pressed your back tightly against the cold stone wall.

" _What the hell am I supposed to do now?! Has the world gone totally mad?! And seriously, this closet isn't THAT small!"_ You had no space to move, trapped between the wall and Heichou. At this point your face was probably red as a tomato. " _Why the hell I always end into a cramped, dark places with_ _ **him**_ _?"_

"7 minutes of heaven, huh?" His words almost startled you, reminding you how close he was. Placing his hands against the wall on both side of your head, he leaned even closer so you could almost feel the warmth of his body. "I can assure you…" His voice was merely a whisper as he continued. "I can do less than that... to give you a piece of heaven."

"I… I…" You tried to stutter something but had no idea what to say. What was he talking about? Or more specifically, what was he going to do? Even in the dim light of the closet, you could see the intense glow in his eyes that made your knees weak. "What are you-"

You couldn't even finish the sentence when he staggered lightly.

" _HE'S DRUNK AS FUCK."_

"Why the hell you superiors come here to drink all the booze?!" You growled at him, forgetting the embarrassing situation. "I can understand all the uninvited cadets, but you guys could actually afford to get drunk on your own wallet!"

"Why are you getting so agitated about?" Levi tilted his head in confusion. "It's a party after all, try to relax a bit."

"Whatever." You rolled your eyes. "Just sit down, will you? You are tottering quite a bit."

When he didn't obey, with a sigh you grabbed on his shoulders and managed to get him sit down on the closet floor, placing him to lean against the wall. You flopped down next to him, only now realizing you were still holding the half empty liqueur bottle. You plopped the cork open, took a tiny gulp and handed the bottle to Levi.

"Did you liked it?" He asked as he took the bottle.

"...Did I like what?" You felt the heat on your cheeks as you cautiously glanced at him.

"The scarf."

"Oh." Thankfully, he wasn't asking about the earlier. "Yeah, I did. So it was from you, after all."

"When they took yours off in the infirmary, it was all bloody and ragged so I figured you probably didn't want it back." Levi fiddled with the bottle for a moment before handing it back.

Levi sure was more relaxed and talkative when he had enough alcohol in his blood- It was actually pretty nice. Still, you couldn't stop worrying about tomorrow: Your first day as his adjutant. It would be one damn awkward day after all of this! Levi was way more drunk than you and knowing his introverted personality, he's probably damn embarrassed about this tomorrow. Suddenly, a slightly drunk you got a great idea: It isn't awkward if he can't remember any of this! Without taking a gulp yourself, you just slyly handed the bottle straight back to him. Hopefully, if he had a bad alcohol tolerance, a man of his size wouldn't need much.

"Dang it!" Connie groaned in disappointment after he opened the door couple minutes later. "Nah, they're just getting wasted!" He shouted over his shoulder. "Nothing to see here."


	7. Chapter 7 - Hangover

Quietly whistling a cheery tune, you paced through the headquarter hallways- Your first day as an adjutant was about to begin. Thankfully, you didn't have much of a hangover, and the tiredness due to the low amount of sleep was something you could deal with. You took a deep breath as you stopped at Captain's office door and knocked.

No answer.

"...Huh?" You frowned. "He isn't here? But…" Starting to get nervous, you knocked again, louder this time and waited. Nothing. "Are you kidding me..?"

Carefully, you pressed your ear against the door and listened for any sounds from inside. Just when you did that, the door opened- Slowly lifting your gaze, you met the thundercloud colored eyes of a very annoyed looking Captain Levi.

"Adjutant [l/n], reporting to duty!" Quickly straightening your back, you gave him a salute.

For what felt like a minute, he just stared at you without saying a word. His usual stoic look had an extra hint of annoyance today- You'd be surprised if he didn't have a massive hangover. His unusually messy appearance hinted so too- He wasn't wearing a jacket, not mentioning the harness. Opening the door a bit more, Levi glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the wall.

"Tch. You are late." He snapped as he swung the door open and then returned behind his desk.

" _Late?"_ You thought confused, closing the door after you as you entered the office. Taking a look at the clock too, you couldn't hold your tongue. "Late?! It's one minute past seven! I was on time but you took your sweet time to let me in-"

"Excuses." He interrupted you, making your blood boil in frustration and anger.

" _Alright, alright… Calm down…"_ You tried to soothe yourself. " _I got promoted, but he's still my superior… Just don't let him get on your nerves…"_

"You are going to Yarckel district today." Levi snapped you from your thoughts, busy looking for something from his desk's drawers.

"Yarckel? What I'm doing there?"

"You need a new uniform." He stopped digging the drawers for second to measure you from head to toe with his eyes. "In the future, you will be seen in my company in the public as well- And in those moments, your appearance is expected to flawless. We have a reputation to keep."

"It's really that bad..?" You muttered under your breath, glancing down at your uniform as Levi kept going through the drawers.

"Go to this address and tell them you're the new adjutant." Finding what he was looking for, Levi eyed the paper for a moment before handing it to you. "They are expecting you. When you get back… just have the rest of the day off, we'll start the real work tomorrow."

* * *

" _Rest of the day off… I bet he just wants to slack off so he can recover from his hangover. Well, I'm not complaining!"_

"Now, raise your arms…" Mr. Gorman uttered with his weak voice, lifting your arms up to your sides. Old mr. Gorman was one of the military's tailors. Sweet old man, and good at what he did. One of the best, or so they said.

" _A tailored uniform? Pretty sweet, I have to admit..! But probably expensive as hell…"_ You cringed for the thought as Gorman finished taking your measures. The party had cost nearly a half month salary, this would probably take the rest of it.

"And, we are done…" He scribbled something onto his notebook. "You are probably taking full accessory set and new boots-"

"No, no… This is enough." Shaking your head, you pulled out the cheque book from your chest pocket. "How much this fun is going to cost me?"

"Oh, no, no!" Mr. Gorman smiled. "The bill will be send to the military office like always, miss. We won't take a dime from you."

"Oh." Hesitating a bit, you awkwardly put the cheque book back to your pocket.

"... So, the gloves and belts come in brown, white and black." Old man lifted his eyebrow.

"I'll take the black ones, please."

"Alright." Mr. Gorman chuckled, scribbling again into his notebook. "I think we can finish everything today, so come back in the evening and you'll have your new uniform for tomorrow."

* * *

"Looking smart, looking smart!" Sasha giggled and playfully tugged the hem of your jacket as you dressed up the next morning.

"Thanks, I guess." You smirked as you tied your [h/c] hair up on a ponytail. "Since I'll be spending time with his majesty, 'my appearance is expected to be flawless'." You added mimicking Heichou's stoic look and monotonous voice, making Sasha howl in laughter.

"You are so lucky, [f/n]." Krista sighed, laying on her bed. "Brand new uniform and all?"

"It all comes with a price. A HEAVY price." You groaned rhetorically.

"You mean Captain Levi?" Krista sat up. "He's bit… Uh… Well he's not very approachable but…"

"I guess you mean an abrasive, stuck-up, annoying snob?" Only thinking about that little bastard made you fume up.

"Whoa, whoa!" Sasha cringed. "Someone has a little bit of built up anger! Really, he can't be THAT bad."

"Well… No. I mean, he can be alright…" You sighed, focusing on putting your hair up as neatly as possible. "If he feels like it, which isn't very often. Seems like pushing my buttons is too much fun. I liked him more when he was drunk!"

"Oh, so you DID like him?" Krista grinned mischievously, but tried to put on a straight face after you gave her a murderous look.

"Whatever… I gotta go." You gave them a lazy wave of hand as you left the dorm.

" _There's no way I'm going to be late today..!"_ You thought, making your way quickly down the hall. " _... But, I guess it depends on him- If he feels like letting me into his goddamn office before midday!"_

Exactly at 6:55 a.m, you knocked on the Captain's office door. By your surprise, the door clicked open right away.

"You're too early."

You stood there in silence, a blank expression on your face. Levi looked a bit confused for a second- He probably had expected some kind of explosive reaction from you. Truth was, you were just too concentrated on imagining how you could smash his stoic little face between the door. Without another word, Levi fully opened the door and took a careful look at you. His intense eyes always made you little bit nervous, but now you were determined not to let it show.

"Reasonable." He clicked his tongue, straightening your shirt's collar before returning into his office and letting you in.

"Good morning to you too, sir." You rolled your eyes as you followed him.

"Sit." He commanded as he made his way around his desk and sat down. "First things first." Levi took two keys from the upper drawer, placing both of them on his desk. "A key to my office." He stated as he pressed his finger on the first key. "Most of the days you'll be working here, sometimes with me, sometimes alone." Moving his finger on the second key, he continued. "A key to your room."

"My… room?" You tilted your head in confusion, reaching to take both keys from his desk.

"Congratulations, you're out from the pigsty." Levi leaned back in his chair and crossed arms over his chest. "In your current position, you are entitled to a bedroom of your own."

" _YES!"_ After a year of living in the dorm with a dozen other girls, privacy was more than welcome. You had just recently got used to Sasha's snoring, but now you wouldn't need to listen anything else but the sweet silence.

"Your room is right across the hall. As my adjutant, you need to be available in every time of the day."

" _FUUUU-"_


	8. Chapter 8 - Too Witty

"...arranging his schedule, helping him with his paperwork, keep the book about his meetings… Stuff like that." You shrugged, continuing shoveling a mashed potatoes into your mouth. It was the lunch time, you sat in the canteen with the usual gang.

"And you need to be 24/7 available?" Eren shook his head. "Damn."

"Well, I doubt that he needs me that often outside the working hours. BUT, he does work a lot. Only thing that worries me is the little time I have for training."

"Wonder what Captain does during his free time?" Connie pondered. "If he even has any, that is."

"Who knows. Probably cleans or does something else relaxing like that." You sighed and stood up. "I should get going- We still have tons of paperwork to finish. Although, it doesn't matter when I return to work, I'm either too early or too late..!"

When you returned to his office, Levi was nowhere to be seen. You decided to continue working without him, finishing almost half of the paperwork before he arrived.

"You are late." You mumbled, keeping your eyes on the papers as Levi sat across you.

"I'm the one who says when someone is late." Levi lifted his eyebrow and snatched few papers from the pile to work on. "Show some respect to your superiors."

"Excuse me. You are late, sir." You simply couldn't resist jesting a bit, even you knew it would most probably backfire. Keeping your gaze down, you could feel his eyes on you as he put down his quill and leaned back in his chair.

"You are too witty for your own good, you know that?" Levi crossed his arms over his chest.

"I do, sir." You smirked down into the papers. "I hear that a lot."

"Tch. You might not be a cadet anymore… but I hope you know it doesn't mean I can't punish you for running your mouth." He stated, making it sound more like a challenge than a warning.

"I am aware of that, sir. But, as I chose my life in survey corps, I prefer to live dangerously."

"You just won't learn." Levi clicked his tongue. "20 pushups."

"Now?" You finally glanced up at him.

"Right here and now." He looked as expressionless as always, but you could tell he was secretly pleased with himself. With a sigh, you stood up and laid down on the floor.

"With one arm or two, sir?"

"Doesn't matter." From the corner of your eye, you could see him walk around his desk to observe you.

"And just earlier today I expressed my concerns about the lack of time for physical training." You huffed as you began doing the pushups.

"How about we make it 30, then?" Levi stated coolly. "Don't worry, we have a whole day."

"Actually, we don't, sir." At this point, you had hard time to hold your laughter. "You have a meeting with team leaders at 3 p.m."

You had finished 52 pushups from 100 when Levi headed to the meeting. At the very second the door shut, you let yourself collapse to the floor.

"Damn slavedriver…" You hissed as you struggled to get up from the floor. "Oh well, can't blame anyone but myself." You chuckled as you flopped back to your chair. As your superior, Levi had a power over you, but you simply liked challenging him- It was your own way to give back to him for acting like a dick.

" _Alright, let's see…"_ You reached over the desk to grab his schedule and took a look at it. Meeting was estimated to last 2 hours- But knowing those meetings, they could last until very late in the evening.

Hours passed as you continued working, finishing all the paperwork of the day and even some extra. When clock on the wall approached 6 p.m, you started to get uneasy.

"I've done an hour of overtime already…" You sighed, glancing over your shoulder at the door. "Should I just… leave? Or am I supposed to wait for him? Gah, I don't know!" You groaned rhetorically, resting your head against the desk. Hand cramping from writing and eyes tired from reading dozens of documents, you felt like you had earned a moment of rest.

"You sure have worked hard. I'm surprised." Monotonous voice disturbed your slumber.

"I wasn't sleeping!" You shrieked as you sprung up. Obviously, that was a lie. Levi was standing next to his desk, going through the pile of papers you had finished. Recovering from your mini heart attack, you flopped back to your chair and glanced up at the clock- It was over 7 p.m.

"I have to admit that I expected you to slack off while I was gone, but you proved me wrong there." He placed the papers back on the desk and made his way to the side table next to the wall.

"Uh… Thank you, sir..?" Rubbing your eyes and wiping drool off from your cheek, you tried to pull yourself together. You felt like you were still half asleep.

"Just cut out that 'sir' crap, alright? I asked for respect but that's just getting annoying." Levi sighed in a bored tone, almost startling you as he placed a cup of tea in front of you.

"Oh! T-thanks…" You stuttered surprised.

Levi made his way around his desk, sitting down to drink his tea. He seemed really tired, like the meeting had completely drained him. Not even the most intense battles exhausted him like this, but few hours in a musty room with babbling people sure did.

"Did you finish all the pushups?"

"Uh…" You cringed as you took a sip of your tea. "No, I didn't."

"Tch… At least you're honest." He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples- You could swear you saw a slight smile on his face before he continued. "Just forget it."

An awkward silence fell into the room. He didn't seem to mind, though- Levi sat there eyes shut, leaning back in his chair almost like he was sleeping. Taking another sip of tea, you tried to come up with something to say.

"How was the meeting?" You asked, cautiously glancing at him. For some reason, you felt a little bit shy- Why he was suddenly being so… nice?

"Tedious, like always." Levi mumbled and flicked his coal black hair back with his hand. When he opened his eyes and his dark gray gaze met yours, you couldn't help but quickly avoid his eyes.

" _What the hell is wrong with me..?!"_ Resting your cheek against your palm, you tried to hide the fact you were slightly blushing. You had many times stared into his cold, steel gray and emotionless eyes, but now something was different. The look in his eyes was intense as always, just more… soft?


	9. Chapter 9 - Getting Dirty

"Jean..! Hey, Jean!"

"What?"

"Boop!" You playfully swatted the head of your mop into his face at the very moment he glanced over his shoulder.

"What the hell?! Eww!" Jean coughed and spitted in disgust, hastily wiping the dirty water from his face while you and Connie almost howled in laughter.

"[f/n], that was disgusting..!" Krista scolded you, but you could tell she had a hard time to cover her own amusement. "Captain left like 5 minutes ago and you're already fooling around?" She sighed and continued dusting the window sills.

Dorms were cleaned every few weeks from top to bottom- Today was one of those days. Unfortunately Heichou was the one supervising the task, so it meant that you had to join the fun as well. Known as a clean freak, it was no surprise Levi turned into a true slavedriver when it came to making the dorms spotless. But, he did participate to the cleaning duty as well, unlike the other superiors. You all had been cleaning non-stop from the very morning, so it was expected for some of you to slack off when Levi was called away for a moment.

"Come on, Jean! It was just a harmless prank!" You tried your best to hold your laughter when you saw how pissed off he looked.

"Yeah? Easy for you to say, you didn't almost have a dirty mop shoved into your mouth!" He scowled at you, but a mischievous grin grew onto his face as he reached to grab a mop for himself. "I know how we can settle this..!"

"Uh-oh..!" You raised your mop like a sword, ready to defend yourself. "Connie, arm yourself!"

"Nope! I'm out of here!" He yelped, barely managing to leap to the safety when Jean striked the first hit towards him.

"What?! Traitor!" You gasped eyes wide as you watched him skitter away to hide. "It was your idea in the first place!"

"Pay for your crimes, [f/n]!" Jean announced, pointing his 'weapon' towards you. "Yield now or fight me to death!"

"I'll never yield!" You stated confidently and took a battle stance, preparing for the fight.

"Are you guys serious..?" Ymir leaned against her mop and rolled her eyes, seemingly not impressed by the upcoming duel.

"Ladies first." You taunted, flashing a confident smirk at Jean.

Jean swung his mop at you, but you easily blocked the attack. He staggered, almost losing his balance as you pushed him back, swiftly aiming a piercing attack to his upper body. Jean managed to dodge the hit, almost catching you off guard by a counterattack. You barely managed to avoid the hit by taking a step backwards, only to block more upcoming attacks.

"Geez, ARE they serious?" Ymir repeated her question, now also interested to follow the battle.

"Nah. Or kinda." Connie, who had been hiding behind Mikasa, chuckled. "They are just having fun."

"[f/n] always enjoyed the close-combat lessons. And she was pretty good, too." Eren joined to watch the commotion.

"All the days in the office have had its toll on you, haven't it?" Jean smirked as you blocked another bash.

"Nope!" You laughed and braced yourself for a next upcoming hit. "I'm just waiting…" Instead of just blocking the next swung, you parried it with such a force it broke your opponent's defence. "... a right time to attack!"

"What the-?!" Jean yelped when you attacked- With a single mop swing to his left ankle, you swiped him off from his feet. This caught him totally off guard, making him drop his weapon as he hit the floor. Your opponent was down and unarmed.

"The victory is mine! Succumb!" You shrieked in excitement, raising your weapon above your head as you prepared for a finishing blow. But for some strange reason, you couldn't budge. "... Huh?" You frowned, glancing up to see what was wrong. A white gloved hand had a tight grip on the handle of your mop, preventing you from finishing off your opponent.

"What the hell is happening in here?" Levi tugged the mop from your hands, looking extremely pissed off by your fooling around.

"Uh… A friendly settlement?" You chuckled nervously as you turned around to face him.

"Idiot."

"Ouch!" You held your head where Levi had just smacked you with the mop handle. "Not fair…" You pouted, but then noticed that he had already turned his attention to Jean on the floor.

"And you too." He stated and swatted the mop head straight into Jean's face, causing a muffled bursts of laughter echo in the room. "What are you all doing, standing around idle? Back to work." Levi casted his menacing look around the room. Everyone rushed back to continue what they were doing, but you couldn't even take two steps when you felt a tug on back of your collar. "Not you."

"But… But…" You whimpered.

"You'll help me with cleaning the shower rooms." He stated sternly and tugged you after him, forcing you to waddle backwards. "Can't leave you even for a second or you're causing such a ruckus…"

"It wasn't just me..! Argh, whatever!" Defending yourself was pointless. You succumbed to your fate- Scraping moss from the bathroom tiles wasn't exactly the worst possible punishment, so it was smarter just to keep your mouth shut.

It took almost an hour of scraping and mopping the floors until Mr. Clean Freak gave his blessing for you to move to the next task.

"Out of curiosity…" Levi started a conversation as he took a break from the cleaning, leaning against the wall to observe your working. "What was that warring of mops all about?"

"It was a duel." You muttered under your breath, glancing him through the mirror you were wiping clean at the moment.

"Fine. A duel." For your surprise, he now seemed more amused about it than annoyed. "Do I even dare to ask why you two were dueling?" He asked, crossing arms over his chest in a relaxed manner.

"He challenged me." Feeling quite embarrassed about the whole thing, you hoped he would just let the matter slip- But when you looked at him over your shoulder, Levi raised his eyebrow to tell you to go on. "Because… I swatted him into the face with a wet mop." Feeling the heat rising on your cheeks, you turned your gaze back to the mirror.

"... And why did you do that?"

"Connie dared me to."

"What am I going to do with you?" Levi hang his head down and rubbed his temples.

" _Oh damn it… Now he's mad…"_ You cringed for the upcoming scolding, cautiously glancing at him through the mirror once again. Your heart skipped a beat when you witnessed one of the rarest sights ever: A smile on his face. Mesmerized by this, you couldn't simply get your eyes off from him. Only when he finally lifted his gaze again, you hastily continued wiping the mirror, breaking the line of sight just before your eyes met.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Snapping out of it, you realized you had basically just splattered the soap water all over the mirror. "Oh dang it…"

"You're leaving streaks all over it like that." Your heart skipped another beat when you heard him walk over to you. Feeling his presence very close to you, you didn't even dare to look over your shoulder at him. "Long, steady strokes. Like this." His breath on your neck made your whole body tingle, but what came next almost swiped you off from your feet- Levi reached over you and placed his hand on yours, now his chest pressed against your back as he guided the movements of your hand. "There. Got it?" Words stuck in your throat, you just nodded as an answer.

" _Some damn intensive cleaning lessons…"_ You tried to cool the redness from your cheeks as Levi returned to work. You found yourself glancing at him more and more often during the rest of the day. " _What the hell is up with me?"_


	10. Chapter 10 - Sleep Debt

"For fuck's sake…" You mumbled under your breath, on your knees on the Captain's office floor. "Nothing but cleaning, cleaning and cleaning… Why the hell I need to scrub this floor by hands, anyways?" With a deep sigh, you sat up and threw the rag into a bucket next to you.

"Taking a break, eh?"

"What the-?!" Glancing over your shoulder, you saw an annoyed looking Heichou behind you. " _When did he came back?! I never heard a door-"_

"What have I told you about slacking off? Tch…" His intense eyes locked on yours, Levi intimidatingly slowly walked around you.

"I wasn't slacking off, I-" You were about to defend yourself, but he interrupted you by abruptly tackling you to the floor. "What-?! What are you-" You stuttered in shock when Levi crawled on top of you, pinning your arms tightly above your head before you could do a thing.

"Like always, I expect my office to be spotless… But what about us?" Pressing his body against yours, he leaned closer until your noses almost touched before he continued. "Let's find out how dirty we are."

"C-captain..?!" You whimpered when Levi leaned even closer, but suddenly halted.

"Oh, one more thing." He stated, pausing for a short moment before whispering into your ear: "Long, steady strokes."

"Heichou!" You screamed as you sprung up. Heart racing and covered in sweat, you glanced around yourself in confusion. "...Wha-?... What the..?" No Levi in sight, just you alone in your bed. In the dim light of the moon that illuminated the room, you squinted your eyes take look at the clock. Almost midnight.

"It was just a dream..?" You sighed and laid back down, tugging the covers all up to your chin. " _Argh, really? What the hell?!"_ Now he was even invading your sleep? If having dreams like that wasn't enough cringe worthy, on top of it you had basically howled his name. " _And loudly enough to wake myself..! If someone happened to walk pass my room at that moment, he/she might have had a wrong idea..!"_ Groaning and whimpering in embarrassment and frustration, you hid under the covers so maybe the world would just forget your existence. You tend to always have pretty weird dreams, but this one just didn't leave you alone. What bothered you the most was the fact you had no idea were you more relieved it was a dream… or disappointed?

* * *

" _Me and my stupid dreams…"_ Fighting an urge to yawn, you continued staring into nothingness. " _I could barely sleep after that…"_

"[f/n]? ...[f/n]!"

Finally snapping out of it, you glanced over your shoulder at Levi behind his desk.

"I think the tea is strong enough." He lifted his eyebrow, seemingly not impressed by your dozing off middle of the day.

"Oh! Right, right…" Getting your focus on back what you were doing, you finished making the tea and served it with an apologizing smile. Levi carefully examined you as you crashed back into your chair, sluggishly going through the papers you had been working on earlier.

"Is... everything alright?" Levi asked somewhat hesitatingly, unable to decide what to think about your strange behavior.

"Huh?" You blinked confused, surprised about his question. "Yeah, I'm fine… Just a little bit tired, that's all." Trying to brush it off with a rather unconvincing smile, you turned your gaze back to the papers.

"You should pay more attention on a good night sleep. In battlefield there is no time for dozing off."

" _Oh geez… No lecture, please..! Or I will definitely fall asleep!"_

"But… I guess I'm not the one to tell you that." He sighed, taking another sip of his tea. "As a man who found himself doing paperwork until midnight, that is. Didn't realize how tired I actually was until I could almost swear I heard you yelling at me. Crazy." He chuckled and shook his head.

"Y-yeah, crazy..!" You whimpered nervously, trying your best to hide behind the papers you were holding. " _He heard that?! How damn loud I was?!"_ Taking a deep breath, you tried to cool off the rising heat from your cheeks. Thinking about it, it was no wonder he heard your howls of terror- Your bedroom was across the hall from his office. " _This is ridiculous, damn it… Why I always-"_

"...[f/n]! Oi!"

"W-what?" Startling for the abrupt call of your name, you peeked over the papers. For a moment, Levi just stared at you with that stoic look of his- He was expressionless as always, but you see a hint of annoyance in his eyes.

* * *

"He sent you out?" Eren asked surprised, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Yeah, to get some fresh air since I'm 'good for nothing in this state of mind'." You rolled your eyes as you sat on a hay bale. "Oh well, it is quite refreshing to get out of the office for a change. I'm going crazy there..."

"Yeah, it's been quite a while since we've had any action." He sighed, leaning against the pitchfork. "I joined survey corps to kill titans, not for... shoveling horse shit." Eren mumbled under his breath as he casted his eye around the stables.

"Did someone mention titans?!" Gleeful shriek made you and Eren jump in fright, and soon enough Hange's head popped into the doorway. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you guys!" She gave both of you an apologizing grin as she stepped into the stables. "I just couldn't help myself when I overheard your conversation."

"Um… That's alright." Eren smiled nervously as he slowly backed towards the other exit- You both could tell Hange was about to begin her rambling about the titans, and Eren had gotten his fair share of it after his transformation ability was revealed. "I need to continue working, so…"

"Oh. Too bad." Hange looked disappointed at first when Eren left, but her eyes light up as her gaze met yours. "Hey, wait a minute… [f/n]... You are longing for an expedition, huh?"


	11. Chapter 11 - Titan Hunt

"An expedition? Uh… Yeah..?" The crazed gleam in Hange's eyes was a bit unsettling, but curiosity got the best of you. "You have something in mind?"

"I sure do!" She shrieked, clapping her hands in excitement. "What about if two of us would go for a teeny-weeny titan hunt?" You couldn't even utter a word before she already started babbling in full-speed. "I had so many, many experiments in storage for Sawney and Bean, but… Oh well, you know. So, to continue my research, I need a new titan! Or two, maybe? The more the merrier! I've proved that with the right methods the capturing can be done without too many casualties, but…" She paused for a short moment to catch her breath. "Few latest expeditions haven't been exactly a great succeeds, so Erwin is a bit hesitant about giving his blessing for this."

"So… How we are supposed to convince him?" You asked cautiously.

"Ha! I thought you'd never ask!" Hange suddenly tugged you onto your feet and dragged you across the yard and towards the HQ as she continued explaining. "Firstly, if we can convince Captain Shorty to borrow you for me, it basically means he approves the expedition overall! And if he approves, Erwin approves! Simple as that!"

* * *

"No."

"But Levi!" Hange whined. "It's just for a one day! I already promised for [f/n] that she could come! She's so excited! Aren't you, [f/n]?" She chanted, abruptly wrapping her arm around your shoulders.

"Y-yeah." You stuttered as Hange tightened her grip, squeezing you almost painfully hard. Levi crossed his arms over his chest, now turning his annoyed gaze to you. You tried your best to keep up a straight face under his intense eyes, but it sure wasn't easy.

"What's in it for me, then? You'll give me Moblit for a day?" He sighed in bored tone after examining you for a short moment that felt like an eternity, now gazing daggers at Hange again. "Fair trade. My adjutant for your assistant."

"Hmm…" Hange tilted her head, scratching her chin as she pondered the situation. "Well… I guess that's fair… OK, sure!" She nodded determinedly, offering her hand to Levi to seal the deal.

"Tch. Like hell I want Moblit." Levi furrowed his brow. "You'll want her so bad? Fine. Do whatever you want. [f/n] is yours for tomorrow. Just for a day, no more." He added more sternly.

"Yahhoo!" Hange shrieked in excitement. "Thanks, Levi! [f/n], let's go! We need to check in with Erwin ASAP!" She chanted as she dragged you out of Captain's office with her.

Levi definitely wasn't excited about Hange's idea, so it was a real surprise that he agreed after all. You, instead, started to get excited about the upcoming mission- Acting as a Hange's right hand for a day sure sounded more fun than doing paperwork in a musty office! Like said, you were surprised that Levi gave his permission for the mission, but even more surprised you were the next morning when everyone were getting ready for the launch:

"Wha-?! You... you are coming too?!" You stuttered as you watched Levi finish saddling up his horse.

"Got a problem with it?" He stated in his usual uninterested tone.

"No! No… I just… I'm surprised, that's all."

"I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I gave shitty-glasses a permission for this." Levi sighed in annoyance and swiftly mounted his horse. "She's too reckless as she is, not mentioning you... Two of you together on a mission? That's the biggest shit show of the year."

"Thanks a lot for the trust." You scowled at him, crossing your arms over your chest. "So you kindly decided to come and babysit us?"

"Pretty much yes." Levi lifted his eyebrow as he glanced at you. "What are you still standing around? Go and get ready, we don't have a whole day."

* * *

While Hange and her team set up the traps, you and Levi went to look for a titan to catch. It didn't took long until you found what you were looking for; 3 smallish abnormals wandering at the edge of the forest.

"Whoa, 3 abnormals?" You gasped as you peered down from a tree branch. "Hange would love to see this..!"

"Tch. Luckily she won't." Levi stated as he drew his blades. "She'd want to try to capture all of them. So, which one is it?"

"Um…" Squinting your eyes to see better, you tried to pick the best one. Honestly, you had no idea what to look for, so you just randomly chose one. "That one!" You pointed at the one wandering away from the group. "It has same kind of stoic look as you usually do!" After saying it out loud, you couldn't help but burst out in a laughter. Only when you noticed Heichou's pissed off look, you tried to get your focus on back to work.

"Shall we?" Levi let out a deep sigh, not waiting for an answer as he jumped down from the branch.

Together you took the other titans down easily and started luring the target towards the traps. Only watching Levi in action was great, but fighting alongside him was pretty damn awesome- You weren't too shabby either, even Levi seemed pleased by your performance in the field.

"Is that one good?" You asked as you landed next to Hange.

"That… one… is… PERFECT!" Hange shrieked in excitement as you two watched the titan waddle towards the trap. "Here, come to mommy…" She giggled mischievously when your prey stepped into the target area. "NOW!"

You had to cover your ears when the traps went off, sending dozens of spikes straight into the titan's body. Sight was quite gruesome, but the beast show no reaction at all. Only when it was being pinned down by its neck, it tried its best to chomp anyone near it- Luckily without success.

"Look at that, [f/n]! Isn't it great?" Hange cheered, gesturing you to come and take a closer look at her 'new pet'. "Great job everyone! That couldn't have gone better!"

Slowly and surely, you took a few steps closer the captured titan. Even you knew it was tightly tied down, you couldn't help but to feel rather nervous around it.

"What the hell are you doing? Get away from it!" Levi growled as he grabbed onto your arm, tugging you away from the captured beast. "Do you want to lose a finger or two?"

"Geez, I wasn't THAT close…" You groaned rhetorically, but backed away anyways. It was a rare chance to get a closer look at the titan, of course you were curious about it!

"And what are you giggling at, four-eyes?" He snapped at Hange, finally releasing his grip before turning away to make his leave.

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" She shrugged lazily as Levi walked away, but gave you a teasing smirk when he was far enough not to hear you two.

"What?" You eyed her cautiously as she pranced over to you.

"Like you don't even know..!" Now unable to hide her excitement, Hange gave a couple of pokes into your ribs by her elbow. "Captain Shorty has hots for you~!"

"W-what?" You stuttered dumbstruck, face already red as a tomato. "No way! That's just ridiculous..."

"I think it's now pretty clear why he decided to join us after all." She cooed, a mischievous grin just widening on her face. "[f/n], don't go too close~! It might bite!" She mimicked Heichou as she walked over to the titan. "As if! Our new little pet won't do a thing- Yikes!" Hange quickly backed away as the titan snapped its jaws threateningly, trying to struggle free.

"Yeah, right." You gave her a stoic look. "Captain was clearly overreacting."

"Well… Maybe he had a point…" Hange gave you an apologizing smile. "But, mark my words, there's something going on between you two."


	12. Chapter 12 - Invitation

You could agree with Levi- The meetings were boring as hell. You had a hard time to stay awake for the 1,5 hours you sat next to him in the meeting room, trying to focus on writing up details about the next expedition mission. Luckily this was only one of the occasional times you had to go to the meeting with him.

"A meeting first thing in the morning?" You groaned and leaned back in your chair as everyone prepared to leave. "I sure hope this isn't a common practise."

"What's next?" Levi asked in his usual uninterested tone, ignoring your complaints. He had already stood up, reaching over to grab your notes about the meeting.

"Um…" You fiddled with the papers, trying to find the schedule. "Nothing. Well, there's supervising the 3dmg practise, but that's after lunch." Glancing up to him, you noticed he was looking at the little caricature of babbling Erwin you had scribbled to the upper corner of the paper. "Uh… I… I was about to transcribe the notes later-" You stuttered embarrassed, but Levi quickly interrupted you.

"It's fine." He lifted his eyebrow, keeping his eyes on the scribble as he turned away to leave.

Quickly gathering up all your stuff, you rushed after him. Working as his adjutant wasn't half bad- After the first couple of weeks, Levi seemed to get used to having you around, being bit more relaxed most of the time. And most importantly, he didn't act like a total dick (at least not very often!). You catched up with him in the hallway, following him back into his office.

"Leave all that on my desk." Levi nodded at the bunch of papers and other random stuff you were holding. "Since there isn't much to do, you can have a long lunch break."

"Sweet!" You cheered, literally almost throwing all your burden onto his desk. Noticing his annoyed look, you quickly gathered everything into a neat pile. "Oh, right..!" You saw a letter peeking from under the pile. "This arrived with the morning mail."

Levi took the envelope from you, carefully examining it before opening. Eager to make your leave, you made your way to the door- If you would hurry, you could have enough time for a short 3dmg session before lunch. You had barely grabbed on the door knob when you heard Heichou cursing.

"What is it?" Curiosity got the best of you.

"An invitation." Levi frowned. "Come back here." He gestured you to sit down, not taking his eyes from the letter.

"Oh damn it…" You muttered under your breath as you obeyed. For a minute, you sat there in silence, waiting for Levi to reread the letter.

"One of those pointless government occasions again." He mumbled, seemingly not excited about the idea. He threw the letter on his desk and went to make himself a cup of tea.

"...cordially invite you and a quest to attend an evening of dinner and dancing…" You leaned forward to take a look at the letter. "...an inclusive black tie event…"

"In other words, standing around idle and listening frivolous blathering the all night long." Levi snapped as he sat behind his desk. "But unfortunately, turning down the invitation isn't an option. Fucking formalities." He sighed and took a sip of his tea.

"It can't be that bad… Sounds pretty fun, actually." You shrugged.

"Well, nice to hear that at least one of us may actually enjoy it."

"...What?"

"You are coming too, of course." Levi stated coolly, concentrating on drinking his tea.

"Me?" You flustered. "But… I can't… Gah, that's just silly!"

"You are my adjutant, there's nothing silly about you going there with me. And it's an order." He added when he saw that you were about to protest more.

"But I don't even have anything to wear!"

* * *

"[f/n], how about this one?" Krista pointed at the dress in the boutique's window.

"Uh… Not really my style…" You looked at the pink frill monster. "Bit too… girly. Looks like something you'd rather wear."

"Aw, come on! Let's go at least take a look what else they have!" She giggled and grabbed onto your arm before you could say anything.

You, Mikasa and Sasha checked out the boutique's selection while Krista was busy trying on the frilly dress. Looking for the dress was nerve wrecking, but also fun- It had been ages since you and girls had done anything like this together.

"This colour would look good on you." Mikasa pulled out a [f/c] dress from the rack.

"Hey, that one looks pretty good!" You took the dress from Mikasa and carefully examined it.

"Try it on!" Sasha eagerly nudged you towards the fitting rooms.

When you got the dress on, you couldn't help but admire your mirror image. The dress sure was flattering your body- It was simple but elegant, all what you were looking for.

"That looks great!" Krista cheered and clapped her hands. "You need to buy that one, it's like made for you!"

"But…" You glanced at the mirror one more time. "Don't you think it's bit too… Uh…" You pointed at your cleavage.

"Generous?" Krista giggled. "A little bit, maybe… But not too much."

"Heichou has something to admire on the both sides!" Sasha playfully slapped your ass, but it was her words that made you blush fiercely.

"Just cut it out, will you?" You scowled at your giggling friends. "I'm there as his adjutant, not as his date!" Still, you couldn't help but think about that 'intensive mirror cleaning' moment you two shared couple days ago. You doubted it meant anything- Just your imagination playing tricks on you, creating that weird vibe between you and him.

"Are you sure you aren't both? Adjutant AND a date?" Krista grinned mischievously.

"I'm pretty damn sure..!" You snapped as you returned to the fitting room.

"7 minutes…"

"WHO SAID THAT?!"


	13. Chapter 13 - Dress Code

"A room for a young couple?" An elderly woman smiled.

"NO!" You almost shrieked as you slammed your hands against the counter. "No! No… Two separate rooms, please." You added in a calmer tone after seeing the shocked look on the poor woman's face.

"Everything alright?" Levi asked as you returned with keys to your rooms.

"Yes!" You snapped, marching straight past him to the hallway. "Why the heck we have to spend the night in this goddamn inn anyways..? We could just go straight back to headquarters after the party…" You mumbled under your breath as you looked for your rooms.

"Someone seems a bit grumpy today." Levi stated after you violently thrusted the key into the lock and swung his room's door open.

"My room is over here-" Without even bothering to comment on his words, you walked over to the next door. "So if you need anything, you know where to find me."

* * *

The event was supposed to start in two hours, so you began to get ready straight away. Putting on makeup and the dress felt pretty weird- In the survey corps you had rarely an opportunity to wear civil clothing, not mentioning anything fancy like this.

"Alright…" You took a deep breath as you looked into the mirror. "OK, hair up or down? Up would be more formal, but it's a black tie event so is it too formal..?! Argh, I don't know!" You groaned in frustration and sat on the edge of the bed. " _Why am I this nervous, anyways?"_ The party itself seemed fun and you had been in events like that before, so it couldn't be it. You had been nervous as hell ever since you woke up that morning- Last straw was when that inn lady mistook you and Captain as a couple. " _Is it… because of him?"_ Just the thought woke up the butterflies in your stomach. " _Nah, can't be."_ You shook the silly idea from your head and stood up, taking one last look at yourself. "You look great and you are going to have tons of fun tonight! No excuses allowed!" You commanded your mirror image, grabbed the invitation from the nightstand and walked out of the room before your confidence would fade.

"It's open." A monotonous voice stated after you knocked.

"Captain, we should get going soon." You peeked into his room.

"Just a minute." Levi seemed almost ready to go- He was correcting his cravat in front of the mirror, wearing a simple black suit and a white shirt. Seeing him in something else than his uniform was kind of strange, but you had to admit that he looked pretty damn handsome… like always.

"So, um… Should I put my hair up or leave it down? I wasn't completely sure about the dress code…" You asked as you entered to the room, twirling a lock of hair around your finger nervously. His eyes met yours briefly through the mirror before he turned around to look at you. For a good 10 seconds, Levi just stared at you, expressionless like always. Feeling the heat steadily rise on your cheeks, you couldn't take the silence anymore. "Well, say something! Is it alright or just plainly horrible?!"

"It's… good." Levi stated before turning his gaze back to mirror. "You look good." He added quietly as he continued fumbling with his cravat. "Leave the hair down."

"Oh. Okay, thanks." You couldn't help but blush- That was quite a compliment from a man who always found a reason to complain.

"Alright. Let's go."

Levi didn't say a word on your way to the party. He didn't speak much anyways, but now he was just being awfully quiet. The situation made you feel so awkward that you didn't even bother to try come up with any small talk.

" _OK, what the hell I have done wrong now?!"_ You pouted to yourself when Levi offered his arm to escort you into the building. The act itself was polite, but the fact that he didn't even bother to glance at you told something was wrong. With a frustrated sigh, you grabbed onto his arm- If he wouldn't stop acting out, you would have a damn long night ahead of you.

"Taxpayer's money well spent." You mumbled as you casted your eye around the hall. "Survey corps is always struggling with a low budget, but they sure have enough money for a stuff like this..." Brightly lit room was full of babbling, well-dressed people- There had to be at least a couple hundred quests, every important person in the city packed into the same space.

"Couldn't agree more." Levi muttered under his breath as he guided you through the crowd. Soon you found Commander Erwin Smith, Nile Dok and some other familiar faces, sticking up with them for a while. After too many compliments about your appearance, men deepened into a conversation about the military business and you saw your chance to wander around a bit.

"Psst..! I'm going to get myself a drink." You whispered to Levi and squeezed back into the crowd, heading towards the bar.

"Aviation, please." You ordered. Leaning against the counter, you took another look around while waiting for your drink.

"Cadet [l/n], wasn't it?"

Glancing to your right, you saw another familiar face sitting at the bar counter- Who else than Dot Pixis, lightly drunk as always.

"Or I guess it's Adjutant [l/n] now." He smiled, gesturing you to join his company. "Here by yourself?"

"No, no." You took your drink and sat next to him. "I'm not important enough to get an invitation… Yet, at least." Giving him an awkward smile, you continued. "I'm here with Lance Corporal."

"Ah." Pixis chuckled, taking a gulp of his drink. "How are you doing? I know Levi isn't the most easiest person to get along with, but since you haven't quit yet..?"

"Yeah, I'm doing alright." You smirked into your drink. "But I can't lie that quitting hasn't crossed my mind once or twice!"

Both of you laughed, Pixis gesturing the bartender for the second round.

* * *

"...And then that young lad, Gustav, looked down! He was shaking so bad his hands slipped and they dropped the whole goddamn cannon straight into a titan's face!"

"No way!" You giggled. "You made that up, didn't you?"

"No, I swear!" Pixis laughed, finishing another drink. "If you don't believe me, go take a look yourself! After 30 years, that cannon is still lays on the ground outside the Wall Maria!"

"Really? Well, maybe I-"

"I take my eyes from you for second and here you are." A monotonous voice interrupted you. Quickly glancing over your shoulder, you saw a raven haired man standing behind you. The way Levi had crossed his arms over his chest told you he was extremely annoyed by your disappearance. Pixis seemed to notice this too.

"Ah, Lance Corporal!" He greeted him. "I beg my pardon for keeping your adjutant here, I simply couldn't help myself- Not very often a beautiful young woman is willing to listen an old coot's stories."

Levi's expression didn't change one bit. He still didn't look straightly at you, trying his best to avoid your gaze. With a deep sigh, you gestured the bartender to come over.

"Don't you think you've had enough already?" Levi glanced at the empty glasses in front of you.

"I guess. But this one isn't for me." You shoved the drink into his hand and stood up. "Try to relax a bit, geez… I'm going out for some fresh air."

"Tch." He clicked his tongue and frowned, but didn't refuse from the drink. He just stood there, watching you go on your way.


	14. Chapter 14 - Love-Hate Relationship

It was already dark outside when you made your way to the courtyard- You had totally lost your sense of time while listening to garrison commander's stories. Night air was chilly and stupidly you hadn't take any jacket with you… But, it still felt good to get out, away from all the racket. Slowly pacing through the garden area, you couldn't help but admire the place. The garden most probably looked great in the daytime as well, but the moonlight gave it a magical vibe. A quiet quacking sound got your attention- In the tiny pond between the trees, you saw a little fluffy creatures making their way towards you.

"Little duckies!" You cheered as your inner child woke at instant. Carefully kneeling next to the pond, you reached your arm, trying to lure the tiny packages of cuteness closer. "Sorry but I don't have any food to give you-"

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Oh shit!" You startled, scaring the ducklings away. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" You scowled at Levi who had followed you outside. "You scared the duckies away!"

"Oh. Forgive me." He apologized, but didn't seem to be sorry at all- More the opposite.

" _Whatever…"_ You just sighed to yourself and continued luring the ducks. After a minute or two of silence, you glanced over your shoulder- You could swear you saw Levi turn his gaze away when you did that. " _What the hell he wants, anyways? He's just… standing there."_

"Aren't you cold?" He asked quietly.

"What?" You blinked surprised as you turned your gaze back to the ducks. "No… well maybe a little... but-"

You couldn't even finish your sentence when you felt a sudden warmth around you. Levi had placed his jacket on your shoulders, now kneeling down next to you. Completely stunned by this, you tried to stutter something close to 'thank you'. Getting your eyes off from him felt impossible as he watched the ducklings. Why he had to constantly confuse you with all these mixed signals? One moment he was like this and the second he would treat you like shit again! Maybe that was just how he was, but something still felt off.

" _I should say something..!"_ There was again that awkward, pressuring silence between you two. " _Something, anything..!"_

"So, um…" You started, scooping one of the bravest ducklings into your hand. "Do you like duck dishes?"

"I… Uh…" Levi stared at the little duckling you were holding. "...Yes?"

" _What the hell, brain?! That's the best one you could come up with?!"_ You kept up a straight face, but inside you were screaming.

"I like them too. Tender meat and crispy skin." You uttered, staring blankly at the fluffy creature on your hand. " _What are you doing?! Shut up! Just shut up already!"_

"Seems like you have spent too much time with Cadet Blouse." Levi chuckled.

" _Wait a minute- He's joking?!"_ You glanced at him surprised, letting the duckling back to the pond. " _And smiling?! What the hell is going on..?!"_

Levi put on his usual serious, stoic face when he noticed you staring at him. But this time, he didn't turn his gaze away. It was probably first time since you left the inn when he looked you into eyes- It was only a brief moment when his steel gray orbs locked into your [e/c] ones, but that look in his eyes made your heart skip a beat. Luckily you were kneeled down, otherwise he would have literally swept you off your feet with that single gaze.

"I think we should head back inside." Levi cleared his throat as he stood up, offering you his hand to help you up.

"Yeah, alright…" You muttered and took his hand. Your other leg went numb when you were kneeled down, causing you stagger as you stood up. With his quick reflexes, Levi wrapped his other arm around your waist and abruptly pulled you closer to him to keep you stable. "Oh! I'm sorry, my leg fell asleep..!" You stuttered embarrassed, but rest of the words got stuck in your throat when you looked up at him. Levi looked just as surprised as you, but didn't loosen his grip. Instead, he gently pulled you even closer to him. He slightly furrowed his brow as he studied you, his usual cold gaze now filled with emotion. Your heart was racing like crazy- The whole moment was so unreal.

You felt dizzy already, but when he began to slowly lean closer, you were sure you would faint soon. Standing there paralyzed in his arms, you tried to process what was going on- Was he really about to do what you think he was? When your noses almost touched, he suddenly halted. With a frustrated sigh, he pulled back and released you from his embrace.

"...What?" You whimpered in disbelief as Levi walked away, leaving dumbstruck you standing there alone. "What the hell just happened?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" You groaned, flopping on the bench nearby. You knew you had a sort of love-hate relationship going on with him, but this far you had thought it was one-sided. When he was acting like a jerk, you couldn't stand him… But when he occasionally let you peek under that mask, you couldn't help but fell for him. Could he feel the same? It was impossible to tell what was going on in his head. Sometimes it felt like he was just toying with you! Maybe time would tell, but honestly, you didn't have high hopes. "Why I always fall for the wrong guys?" You sighed.

* * *

It was pretty clear that Levi was avoiding you for the rest of the night. You didn't mind, though- You were just simply too tired to deal with the awkwardness at the moment. After couple of drinks more with Garrison Commander, you finally managed to forget the earlier and actually enjoy yourself. When feeling cheery and light headed enough, you even dared to accept the invite to the dancefloor.

" _Maybe I should just find a wealthy man and get married."_ You sighed to yourself, curtsying to a young gentleman after the dance. " _I could stop working so I wouldn't need to deal with Captain Pain-in-my-ass anymore!"_ Chuckling to the silly idea, you made your way back to the bar. " _Speaking of the devil..!"_ You felt the gloomy mood set back in as you saw Levi at the bar counter, talking with Pixis.

"Ah, there she is!" Pixis chanted as you joined them. "One round more, what do you say?"

"No, we are just about to leave." Levi answered for you, keeping his eyes fixed on Garrison Commander.

"Oh. What a shame." Pixis sighed in disappointment. "Thank you for keeping me a company, miss [l/n]." He gave you a smile and a nod before turning his gaze back to Levi. "You have a lovely adjutant. I hope you don't take her for granted."


	15. Chapter 15 - The Last Straw

The week after the party was absolutely horrible. Levi had turned into a total douche, making working with him even more difficult than before. He barely spoke to you anymore- And when he did, he did nothing else than yell and scold you about some stupid little things you did or didn't do.

" _How I even imagined I could have some feelings for that bastard..?! Maybe a tiny crush, yeah, but that had to be just because of his looks!"_ You secretly scowled at him middle of the paperwork. " _Really, what the hell is his problem? He's a total jerk-off… And I bet he's trying to make me quit, but there's no way I'd give him that pleasure- If he wants to get rid of me that badly, he has to fire me himself!"_

You glanced at the clock- Almost 1 p.m. And as expected, Levi showed no intentions of letting you go to have lunch without making you beg for it. You could barely stand his awful attitude, but making even the most simply, daily things this difficult really got your blood pressure to rise. But no more, not today. Hungry and tired for this shit, you finished the papers you were working on and stood up to leave.

"Where do think you're going?" Levi asked coolly when you had made your way to the door. His voice was calm and uninterested as usually, but you could tell the shit storm was about to rise.

"To eat." You hissed under your breath, not even bothering to turn to look at him.

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Hmph… I don't think so." Levi clicked his tongue before passing his judgement. "These reports haven't been filled correctly… Rewrite them."

Glancing over your shoulder, you saw him holding a thick pile of papers in his hand- Rewriting them would take rest of the evening. Letting out a tired sigh, you managed to put on a smile as you made your way back to him.

"Alrighty then." You snatched the papers from him, giving them a quick look. "You know what?" Letting all your fury out, you ripped the papers into tiny pieces and threw them up into the air. "Dearest Captain... Go fuck yourself!" You snapped before you sprung around and marched to the door.

"You-!" Levi flustered angrily as he sprung up, too stunned to find words. "What the-?!"

"After lunch I will spend rest of the day at the tracks." You interrupted his flustering. "You know, running those half a million laps you will give me. Oh and what the hell, let's throw couple trillion push-ups on top of that!" You chanted and swung the door open. "So I'll be pretty busy with all of that and most probably won't be back later today. See you in the expedition meeting tomorrow morning~!" You swung the door shut behind you with such a force the whole hallway echoed.

* * *

As a woman of your words, after a long and relaxing lunch you headed to the tracks. Of course, you weren't going to run 'half a million laps'- But 20 laps or so would be a good way to deal with all the anger and frustration that had been building up inside of you. After couple of laps, the reality started to finally sink in. Holding onto your knees, you stopped middle of the tracks.

"[f/n]!" Eren called as he ran up to you- Apparently training with Mikasa on the tracks as well. "Surprise to see you here!"

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Mikasa asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"I screwed up…" You whimpered, eyes still locked on your feet.

"You what?" Eren frowned.

"I lost my shit. I totally, utmostly lost my shit." Giggling nervously, you finally lifted your gaze. "That stoic bastard kept pushing my buttons so much I finally went batshit crazy."

"You mean… Captain..?" He lifted his eyebrow, exchanging a worried looks with Mikasa.

"I'm so dead." You groaned as you straightened your back. "We have a meeting first thing tomorrow morning, I'm surprised if he doesn't rip my head off next time he sees me!"

"What did you do?" Eren tried to keep up a serious face, but couldn't help but chuckle.

"You don't even want to know." You gazed daggers at him. "And don't you dare to laugh at my pain, you'll regret it after Heichou kills me for reals."

Needless to say, you barely slept that night. Next morning, you went to the meeting just in time. Normally you would always be at least 5 minutes early, but this time you wanted to minimize the alone time with Heichou. He said nothing as you sat next to him in the meeting room- Hopefully Levi wasn't so pissed off as expected, but you didn't dare to make any assumptions yet. Part of you really regretted your little explosion… But in the other hand, he did deserved it.

Determined not to give him any reasons to complain, you were extremely observant in the meeting and did your best to be specific with the notes- Normally you would just snooze off while scribbling random stuff on the papers. At the time you had no idea how greatly your extra effort during this specific meeting would pay off.

Nervously you waited the meeting to end, fearing the scolding you would get about the yesterday. But surprisingly, Levi didn't mention your outburst at all. He barely said a word during rest of the day- Oh well, a sulky Heichou was better than an angry Heichou!

 **! Writer's note: This chapter was a bit shorter than usually, sorry about that! I will make it up to you, since the next one will be extra long! ;D !**


	16. Chapter 16 - Employee of the Month

"Wait a minute…" You eyed your notes about the expedition. "Captain, was there any late changes with the squads that I wasn't informed about?"

"No, I guess not." Levi, who was on his horse next to yours, seemed less than interested about your questions.

"I… I'm not sure but I think this has been changed. If I remember right, we were supposed to have Arlert, Springer, Kirstein and Blouse in the assisting team, but now instead of Cadet Blouse there's Cadet… Berg?" You frowned as you reread the name. "Who the heck that even is?!"

"If you aren't sure, why you keep babbling about it?" He snapped at you. "Berg, Blouse, what it does even matter?"

"Oh sorry." You rolled your eyes. "I hate it too when I'm paying attention to the details."

Casting your eye around the assisting team members, you saw an unfamiliar young man- Cadet Berg, supposedly. You didn't knew all survey corps cadets by name or face, but it was strange that they had put a less experienced cadet into that team. You assumed he was new, because you didn't remember seeing him before and he seemed quite nervous. " _Probably his first expedition."_ You thought before the mission launch interrupted your ponderings.

Everything went smoothly- Two titan sightings on the way to the destination forced you to change the formation only slightly. Like planned, special operations squad and the assisting team took shelter in the ruins of an abandoned village and waited for a signal to move on.

"Levi squad, eyes on the sky!" Eld reminded everyone. "Assisting team, eyes on the horizon! We don't want any titan related surprises here!"

"Hey Eld, where did you pointed Cadet Berg?" You asked. That change in the plans still bothered you- Since both teams had reached the destination earlier than expected, you had a chance to look into it.

"Berg? He's keeping an eye on the north-east side." Eld pointed at the two-story building closest to you.

Shooting your grappling hooks onto the building's crooked tower, you swiftly swung yourself up to the roof. You sheathed your blades and made your way around the tower- By your surprise, found Cadet Berg kneeled down, facing completely wrong direction he was supposed to. " _What the..? What is he doing?"_ Your first reaction was to ask him about it, but for some reason, you stood there without making a sound. Berg hasn't noticed you yet, and your gut told you to keep it that way. He was focused on fumbling with something, occasionally glancing down from the roof. It looked like he was keeping an eye on the Captain and Oluo who was speaking with him.

" _But… why?"_ You frowned to yourself, glancing back at him. Only when you heard a low clicking sound, you realized what was about to happen: " _I haven't heard about Cadet Berg because he doesn't exist. That motherfucker is here to kill someone."_ And by someone, you meant Levi.

You sprinted towards him even before you saw him raise the rifle- By the time he noticed you, you had already grabbed on the rifle's barrel. Without giving him time to react, you smashed the stock into his face with all your might. His nose let out a disgusting crackling sound and Berg fell onto his back, giving you a chance to grab the gun from him. Unfortunately, he sprung straight up and launched at you. Trying to fight the rifle back from you, Berg managed to overpower you. He pinned you down against the roof, trying to get the gun but your grip was tight. When you tried to scream for help, he covered your mouth with his other hand- That was his mistake. When he was holding onto the rifle with only one hand, you managed to tug it back to you and hit him into the face with it. Berg let out a squeal of pain, covering his face with his hands. You struggled to get him off from you and threw the rifle down from the roof.

Berg was still on his knees- Eyes filled with rage, he drew his blades. Again, you were faster: You bashed your feet on the side of his other sword, cracking the thin metal against the stone roof. When he was about to raise the other sword, did the same thing, finishing the combo with a kick onto his upper body. When Berg was gasping for air, you sprinted behind him and hooked your arm around his neck.

"I need some fucking help in here!" You shouted on top of your lungs, squeezing Berg's neck tighter as he began to struggle free. You could have easily killed him after you got the gun or broke his blades, but you kept it as a last option.

"Oh FUCK!" You screamed as a sharp pain hit below your ribs. Letting go of him, you glanced down to see a redness spreading on your shirt- That asshole had stabbed you with the remains of his blade. In shock, you didn't have time to react when Berg smashed his fist into your face, sending you crashing down to the roof tiles. He jumped on top of you, squeezing his hands around your neck.

"Why the fuck you had to ruin everything?! Stupid bitch!" He growled angrily, blood dripping from his broken nose on your face as he squeezed even harder. You were gasping for air, trying desperately to get his hands off from your neck. Committing your life to the survey corps, you had many times pictured your death. Getting eaten alive by a titan, crushed into bits in their grip… But never you had imagined anything like this.

Suddenly, something smashed to the other side of Berg's head, making him howl in pain and release his grip. He was roughly pulled off and thrown on his back not far from you. Gasping and coughing, you glanced to your side- Your heart jumped when you saw Levi on top of him, furiously smashing his fist into Berg's face again and again. Soon Gunther and Oluo dashed to the scene, struggling to get berserk Heichou off from the badly beaten up Berg. You tried to stood up, but fell back to your knees. First you thought you were imagining things due to the fatigue of the battle, but you wasn't- The ground was shaking.

"Titans!" Oluo screamed, pointing behind you.

No-one had been keeping an eye on the north-east side- Glancing to your other side, you saw two normal types coming straight towards you. They would reach the village in a minute or less. There was no time to lose; Hissing for the pain, you pressed your hand against your wound as you struggled to finally get on your feet.

"Gunther, grab this motherfucker!" Oluo commanded, shoving the almost passed out Berg into his arms. "Captain, [l/n]! We need to get out of here-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence when you heard a loud crash that made the building tremble like hell. A titan had grabbed onto the edge of the roof, trying to reach for anyone up there. Luckily, this one was a rather small individual. But, it was too early for a sigh of relief- When it reached up with both hands, the whole roof tilted dangerously.

"Oh shit!" You shrieked as you lost your balance, painfully falling onto your stomach. Panic hit when you began to slide down from the roof, straight towards the beast. Levi dove to reach for your hand, but it was too late- Your fingertips lightly brushed against each other before you fell over the edge.

That moment was almost magical. Sounds maybe strange, but you didn't know a better word to describe it. You felt nothing- No fear, no panic, no pain… not even the gravity during that single second you were up in the air. Time had stopped. Or… not maybe completely stopped, but almost. This had to be how Berchwald felt at the moment you looked him into the eyes before his death. Glancing to your left, you were greeted by a gruesome smile of a titan. If you were lucky, the fall itself would kill you or at least knock you out. Being eaten alive wasn't really your first choice. One thing you knew for sure: You were going to die.

" _Fuck that!"_ At least you could make the titan work for its food! No time to draw your blades, you grabbed on the handles and launched the grappling hooks to the building wall. This broke your fall, but you were unable to take the impact- Smashing against the stone wall, you hit your head so hard that for a second all you could see was painfully bright whiteness. Taste of iron in your mouth and blood running down your face, you released the hooks. Apparently just in time: When you hit the ground, the titan smashed its hand where you had been less than a second ago. Adrenaline kicking in, you found strength to get on your feet. You had already lost a lot of blood, but you would worry about that later- Now you needed to get to the safety. Barely dodging the huge hand that reached down, you protected your face with your arms as you leaped into the building through the window.

"This has been one fucking awful day." You chuckled tiredly as you tried to struggle up from the dusty floor. Your mind was getting hazy, not mentioning the pain that was slowly returning as the adrenaline ran out. You couldn't even get on all fours when you already collapsed back to the floor, unable to move anymore as the fatigue of the battle finally overcame you. Blood oozing from your wound, the puddle of redness steadily spread around you. "I think I did… pretty well…" You smiled. Even if this was the end, you had no regrets. "Well… Maybe one…" You chuckled when tears rolled down your face and the world around you faded black.


	17. Chapter 17 - Recovery

Darkness turned into a bright light. Covering your eyes with your hand, you tried to pull yourself together and figure out where you were. Was it… heaven? Squinting your eyes, you looked around.

"[f/n]!" Familiar voice shrieked in excitement. "You're awake!"

Connie stood at the doorway, holding a pile of sheets in his hands. Apparently you weren't dead after all- If you were, the afterlife was a real disappointment and poor Connie got killed as well. No, this wasn't heaven: You were in the infirmary.

"How are you feeling?" Without even waiting for response, he sprung around and ran into the hallway. "I'm going to tell the others you're awake!" He shouted as he went by his way.

Hissing for the pain, you struggled into a half sitting position. What happened? How long you had been unconscious? Your condition wasn't best possible, that was for sure- Every move ached your neck and back, your arms were both covered in bandages from wrist to elbow. Lifting a hem of your shirt, you found a thick layer of bandage around your torso.

"9 stitches!" Connie answered to the question in your mind as he returned with Jean, Krista and Sasha.

"[f/n]... You are one damn lucky person, you know that?" Jean grinned and patted your shoulder.

"It's pure skill, nothing to do with luck." You smirked back.

"We were so worried!" Krista sobbed, about to grab you into a painful hug but luckily Jean managed to stop her.

"Rest of the bunch will come to see you after the stable duty." Sasha stated with a smile as she sat on the edge of your bed next to Krista.

"Alright, that's nice to hear..." You chuckled, rubbing your eyes to get the dizzy feeling away. "But hey, can someone please tell me what happened? I'm kinda lost here."

"Oh right!" Connie put on a more serious face. "The mission was terminated right away when… the stuff… happened. Berg, or whatever his real name was-"

"Was?" You frowned.

"Um… Yeah, he…" Connie scratched back of his head nervously, exchanging looks with Jean. "He was successfully transported to the headquarters and interrogated, but… he hang himself in his cell last night."

"Oh for fuck's sake…" You groaned in frustration. "All that trouble to not to kill him..! I should have just shot him right there and then!"

"We don't yet know who he actually was or where he was from…" Connie continued. "But as you can tell, he was there to assassinate Lance Corporal. He refused to say a word during the interrogation, but that dumbass had notes about his mission with him. Apparently the rifle was hidden into the tower."

"Their plan was pretty smart, I have to admit." Jean sighed. "An assassination in a time and a place like that? No-one ever saw it coming. Except you, [f/n]." He added with a grin.

"Oh please." You rolled your eyes. "I was just worried about the changes in the paperwork and stumbled to a right place in a right time."

"You looked pretty nasty when they brought you here." Krista cringed for the unpleasant memory. "We thought you weren't going to make it."

"Yeah! You had blood all over your face and clothes and huge shards of glass sticking from your arms-" Sasha began to list your injuries in excitement, but Krista quickly silenced her with a disgusted look.

"You were lights out for almost 2 days." Jean took a mirror from the drawer, handing it over to you. "Dare to take a look?"

"It's that bad?" You whimpered as you took the mirror. "Oh fucking hell!" Was your first reaction.

First thing that got your attention was the black eye Berg gave you. On top of that you had a split lip and a nasty bruise on your forehead, not mentioning the horrible bruising on your neck.

"It's not that bad, really…" Krista tried to comfort you, but you could tell she wasn't being fully honest.

"Well… If I have to try to come up with something positive, it's a real miracle I didn't broke my nose…" You mumbled as you ran your fingertip up and down on the bridge of your nose.

Soon a nurse came in and told your friends to leave so you could rest. Thanks to the concussion and the stab wound, they would keep you in the infirmary for god knows how long- That was something you definitely wasn't excited about. Later that evening couple of Erwin's assistants came over to take your report about the incident, unfortunately you didn't have much new to tell them. During the next couple of days your friends visited you always when they could, but that one visitor you waited most didn't show up.


	18. Chapter 18 - Regrets

"Cheer up, only couple more days in this musty room and you're free as a bird!" Eren patted your back.

"Yeah. But if it was up to me, I would get out of here right away!" You said in a gloomy tone, pushing around food on the plate with your fork. "I'm perfectly fine, why they can't just let me go?"

"Are you?" Armin gave you a meaningful look. "I don't think a perfectly fine human being cringes in pain every time they stood up?"

"Well… I'm fine **enough**!" You pouted, handing your half-eaten meal to Eren. "I'm trapped in this bed almost 24/7, I need some exercise!"

Armin and Eren exchanged looks, neither one impressed by your reassurances.

"So, uh… How's Captain doing?" You changed the subject.

"Captain?" Eren looked surprised. "I don't know… Same as usual? He hasn't been around much lately. Why?"

"Just wondering…" You sighed. "I kinda expected him to come over at some point."

"What? He hasn't visited you?" Eren flustered. "Not even once?"

You shook your head as an answer, trying to look like it didn't bother you that much. Really though, you were more than upset- And hurt.

"You saved him and he doesn't even bother to visit?" Eren fumed. "You are his adjutant, for god's sake! That only should be a reason to drag his ass here!"

"What the hell are you yelling here?" Jean, who had been snoozing off on a window sill, finally woke up.

"Captain hasn't come to visit [f/n]." Armin sighed.

"Oh. That's strange." Jean rubbed his eyes and yawned. "He was here earlier."

"What?" You blinked confused. "When?"

"The day after they brought you here." Jean seemed surprised by your questions. "Connie and I had an infirmary cleaning duty, Captain was here when we came in that morning. He left almost right away, and you were still lights out, so…"

"How heart warming…" Eren rolled his eyes.

"That's enough, Eren." Armin tried to calm him down- He could probably tell that the topic upset you more than you let it show. "She needs to rest. Come on, we should head back to the work." Gesturing his friends to follow him, Armin lead the group out of the room.

" _Why I even care if he comes to see me or not?"_ You sighed to yourself as you fumbled with the bandage on your arm. You and Captain weren't exactly in a good terms when all of this happened, but it was still quite damn rude of him to act like this. Unable to swallow all your bitter tears, you wiped the corners of your eyes. " _All this pain just because I once thought there could have been something between us?"_ Even you knew it hasn't been true, you never thought you were this worthless to him.

* * *

 **Levi's POV**

Once again, he stood in the hallway, staring at the infirmary sign above the doorway. During the past week, it had become part of his routine- Every day after lunch, he stood there, having a mental battle inside of his head until he would chicken out. And as expected, when other figures entered the hallway, he sprung around and quickly paced towards his office. He just simply couldn't do it.

"Captain!"

Levi halted, turning around to see Eren, Armin and Jean quickly pacing towards him.

"Eren, this isn't a good idea-" Armin stuttered, trying to grab onto his friend's shoulder to stop him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Eren flustered angrily at Levi, brushing Armin's hand off. "[f/n] saved your sorryass and you don't care enough to visit her even once?! Don't you even-"

Eren couldn't even finish his sentence when Levi already grabbed onto his collar, pinning him roughly against the wall.

"Mind your own business, shitty brat!" Levi growled under his breath, fighting the urge to punch the titan boy's teeth in right there and then. The stress of the situation was enough as it was, last thing he needed was some nosy brats pushing him around. His murderous glare was enough to silence Eren, so Levi released his grip and went on his way.

When Levi arrived to his office, he was almost fuming. Those little shitheads had no idea about the situation he was in! Cursing out loud, Levi angrily swiped all the items from his desk to the floor before crashing on his chair.

"Those fuckers have no idea…" He repeated quietly, burying his face into his hands as he tried to calm down.

 **FLASHBACK**

"Shit… Where she wandered this time?" Levi mumbled annoyed as he casted his eye around the village ruins. "That brat is always fooling around…"

"You mean [f/n]?" Oluo, who was just about to return to his spot, halted. "She was looking for Cadet Berg earlier."

"What the hell is up with her? She'd better drag her ass back here soon." Levi sighed. He couldn't help but casually look around once more- What was this bad feeling that kept nagging him? She had been away for a quite while already, but there shouldn't be a reason to worry. Or was there? [f/n] was maybe quite a rambunctious personality and didn't always focus on the work... but she wasn't stupid, all the opposite. Maybe he should have listened her earlier?

"I need some fucking help in here!"

Levi's heart dropped as he heard her screams of help. Not wasting a second, he tried to locate the sound.

"Where did she went?! Where the hell did she went?!" Levi shouted to Oluo, who answered the question by pointing at the building north-east.

Panic turned into fury when he saw what that piece of shit had done to her. Blinded by his rage, Levi smashed his foot straight into Berg's head and violently pulled him off from her, continuing by beating the shit out of him. Levi wasn't just angry at that asshole or the situation itself… but at himself. When the titans showed up, things went from bad to worse- A smallish abnormal shook the building, making already badly injured [f/n] fell and slide down from the roof.

"Shithead, eyes on me!" Levi growled, slicing off a piece of titan's cheek to get its attention. Unfortunately, it was too interested about [f/n] on the ground, beginning to reach down to her. "FUCK!" Levi cursed, launching himself up in the air and swinging himself behind of this monster- He managed to take the beast down quickly, but was it enough? When he landed next to the steaming corpse, she was nowhere to be seen. His heart was racing so fast it felt like it was about to burst- Was he too late?

" _No… No… NO!"_ Palms sweaty he squeezed the sword handles, casting his eye around the area again. His knees started to feel weak as he saw the small puddle of blood on the ground. But then he realized something- From the puddle, a small trail of blood continued towards the building. " _Could it be..?!"_ A glimmer of hope in his heart, Levi quickly leaped inside the building through a broken window- And there she was. She had managed to get to the safety, but it was no time to feel relieved just yet.

"[f/n]? [f/n]?!" Levi repeated her name as he kneeled next to her, quickly but carefully turning her around. "Oh shit…" He cursed. [f/n] was still alive, but her wounds seemed bad. Tugging her upper body onto his lap, Levi wiped off the blood smeared hair off from her face. "Come on, wake up..! Just… don't die on me, damn it! Hold on a little while, alright?" Pressing his hand on the stab wound to stop the bleeding, he shouted for help.

"Oluo! Someone! Get the medics here!"


	19. Chapter 19 - Freedom

"Stupid doctors…" You hissed under your breath. "I'm fine! Last thing I need is to let myself wither in a bed rest… If they want to help, some rehabilitation would be nice..!" Even after getting caught twice and being scolded about your little secret workout sessions in the infirmary, you were once again on the floor doing pushups. "Stupid Heichou… Not like I care a shit about him anymore, but-"

"Seems like you're recovering well."

"What the-?!" You shrieked in surprise, startling so bad you fell onto the floor face first. Quickly lifting your gaze, you saw Commander Erwin Smith standing in the doorway.

"Please, there's no need for that." Erwin gestured you to relax as you struggled to get up to give him a salute.

"Uh… Commander, what are you doing here?" You stuttered, still embarrassed for the situation. " _Shit! Why Commander had to come for a surprise visit NOW?"_

"I'm pleased to see that you are eager to get well and back to work." He gave you a smile. "Since I, unfortunately, haven't been able to pay you a visit earlier, I wanted to bring you these personally." Erwin handed you a bunch of papers before he continued. "While you have been recovering, we have been planning on another large scale expedition to secure more outpost in the west. There are the details about the meetings we've had this far. You are released from the infirmary in... two days, correct?"

"Yeah?" You lifted your gaze from the papers to give him an asking look.

"The expedition launch will be in 4 days. What do you say, do we count you in? Of course, only if you feel that you are capable of-" He continued in a more concerned tone, but you quickly interrupted him.

"Yes, sir! I'm coming too!" Straightening your back, you gave him such a confident salute that you accidentally crumpled the papers in your hand.

"I like your enthusiasm." Erwin chuckled. "We need more soldiers like you. Just remember to check your gear and go for a test run or two before the launch."

"Yes, sir!" You saluted again as you watched him disappear back to the hallway. An expedition! Finally something to look forward to. Your enthusiasm faded when you remembered one thing: Returning to work would mean also seeing **him** again. "Damn it…" Cursing under your breath, you sat on the edge of your bed. You knew you needed to confront Levi sooner or later, but you were still angry and hurt for his actions. Luckily, during the expeditions you were more just a soldier than his adjutant, so maybe you could try avoiding him until things would return to normal… if they ever would.

"[l/n], [f/n]..." Doctor Feld stated as he stepped into the room. It had been two days since Erwin's visit, which also meant that your time in the bed rest torture was finally coming to an end. "Ah, seems like you're ready to go." Feld raised his eyebrow after he noticed you standing next to your bed, already fully dressed and eager to make your leave. "But I thought you liked it here." He added jokingly, referring to your continuous protesting during the past weeks.

"Ha-ha." You rolled your eyes. "So, can I go?"

"Sorry darling, but we still need to do the final examination before I can let you go." Feld gave you an apologizing smile. "But it only takes a second. After that, you are no longer my problem." He chuckled, gesturing you to sit down.

The stab wound had healed really well, only couple faded bruises on your face and the barely visible strangling marks reminding you about the incident. In couple of weeks, they would be just a memory as well. Overall, you felt better than in ages.

"Good, good…" Doctor Feld mumbled as he checked your spine movements. "Seems like you are good to go. Just try not to strain yourself too much, if possible. Believe me, neither of us wants you back in here." He grinned and gave a pat on your back. "Take your time to get back on 3dmg- Take it easy, no any crazy acrobat stuff before you feel like you're fully recovered."

"Got it!" Smiling from ear to ear, you hastily put your jacket back on and rushed to the door. "Thanks, doc!"

You heard Doctor Feld's heavy sigh as you pranced to the hallway. You were finally free! But, there was no time for a celebration- The expedition launch was in couple of days and you had a lot to do. Without even bothering to stop by at your room, you made your way straight to the gear storage.

"What the hell you mean it can't be fixed in time?!" You gasped, eyes locked on the battered pair of scabbards on the counter.

"I'm sorry, but there's a lot of work in the line…" Logistician behind the counter shook her head. "And your gear is in a pretty bad condition. It will take at least a week."

"But I can't wait a week! The expedition is in 2 days!" Rubbing your temples in frustration, you tried to come up with a solution. "Fine. How about if you just take care of the scabbards? I know, 3dmg wires need to be changed too, but I can do that myself."

"That would be very helpful, but like I said, there's A LOT work in the line." She repeated more sternly, seemingly annoyed by your persistence. "We can't make exceptions."

"Damn it…" Letting out a frustrated groan, you already turned away to leave when you got an idea. "Hmph.. Alright then." You shrugged. "I guess it can't be helped. Gah, I hate bringing bad news to Lance Corporal."

"W-what?" Logistician stuttered confused.

"Yeah, he won't definitely be pleased after he hears that his adjutant's gear is still in unusable condition even after all this time…" You stated in uninterested tone as you made your way out. "But don't worry about it, he will surely come to discuss about this matter personally."

"Hey, wait!"


	20. Chapter 20 - Back to Work

"Adjutant [l/n]! Your scabbards are done." Logistician gave you a nervous smile the next morning you walked into the gear storage.

"Well that was fast." You mumbled to yourself as she disappeared to the backroom, soon rushing back with your gear.

"We took the freedom to change the old blade set to a new one, I hope that is alright."

" _Seems like threatening with Captain Shorty was more effective than expected..."_ You kind of felt bad for scaring the poor logistician like that, but this matter couldn't wait.

"Here is your 3dmg and the new wires. You asked to do it yourself, but we could-"

"That's alright." You quickly interrupted her, snatching your gear from the counter. "I'll take care of it. Thank you."

Everything had worked out better than expected. Now all you needed to do was to put the new wires into your 3dmg and give it couple test runs around the forest. If you would hurry up, you could get it all done before lunch and spend rest of the day training. You hurried your way through the hallways and to your room, struggling with your heavy burden. Officially you were still off-duty due to your injuries, so you didn't need to worry about Heichou... Or so you thought. Leaning against the wall, you fumbled with the keys and finally got the door open. Just when you were about to step in, you saw something in the corner of your eye- Or more specifically, someone. Glancing to your left, your eyes met his.

"[f/n], I-" Was all Levi could utter before you slammed the door shut behind you.

"Shit…" You cursed under your breath, leaning your back against the door. Levi was the last person you wanted to see at the moment- He didn't care enough to come to see you even once, but now he had a nerve to show up! Or more likely, he just randomly ran into you. You froze as you heard footsteps behind your door, lingering there for a moment before he spoke.

"Please, open the door." Levi pleaded. "I know you don't most probably want to see me... and you have every right to be mad at me, but I need to talk to you! I…" He hesitated, frustrated sighs telling you he was trying to find words. "I want to make things right, but I can't do it like this!"

" _Oh great,_ _ **now**_ _he wants to talk?"_ You were still angry and hurt, but couldn't help but feel compelled to give him a chance. Unable to make your mind, you just stared at the door knob. What if you'd just end up getting hurt again? Yeah, now he wanted to make up, but tomorrow he might act like a total jerk again! Sometimes it felt like Levi had two personalities!

"Alright, alright…" His voice snapped you out of your anguish. "I understand if you don't want to talk right now. I won't push it, so… just… think about it."

You didn't move a muscle until his footsteps faded into the distance. Letting out a frustrated groan, you made your way to your bed and sat down. What were you going to do? You should have confronted him right away, but he caught you off guard- At least now you had some time to mentally prepare yourself.

"He sounded a little bit… depressed." You mumbled to yourself. Your anger had already faded, now replaced with a bunch of very mixed feelings. The scarf he had given you sat on the back of your chair, almost like as a constant reminder of him. "Damn it! I don't have time for this right now..!" Shaking the unnerving feeling away, you focused on getting your gear fixed.

* * *

Doctor wasn't kidding when he told you to take it easy on the 3dmg practise- For someone who had spent 2 weeks tied into a bed, you performed pretty well, but you could tell that some sharp movements didn't do very good for the wound. Pain did fade away after couple laps around the forest- Flying with 3dmg after such a long time was a pure bliss, but you had to remind yourself not to overdo it. After third lap, you saw two familiar figures at the edge of the forest.

"You got out from the infirmary only few days ago and here you are!" Eren laughed as you landed to meet your friends.

"Of course." You smirked back at him. "I've already wasted enough time by slacking off."

"Are you sure you are in a condition to swing around just yet?" Armin gave you a concerned look.

"Yeah, yeah.. Don't even get started…" You brushed his worries off with a bored groan. "Doctor said I'm fine. And don't worry, I'm being careful!"

"So you're really coming tomorrow?" Eren, instead, seemed more excited than worried about your return.

"Yup. No way I'd miss it." You grinned. "It maybe sounds crazy, but the expedition trip like that is just what I need- Put all that crazy stuff that has happened behind me and focus on the work."

"I guess that's true." Armin sighed. "Oh, talking about work, have you seen Captain after your release from the infirmary? Is everything alright between you two?"

"Ugh… We are fine." Your tone of voice didn't seem to convince your friends, neither the way you avoided the eye contact. "We… met briefly earlier."

"Well, if you say so." Eren nudged Armin towards the treeline before turning back to you. "[f/n], are you done training or dare to join us for a race around the forest?"

"Like I ever turn down a challenge!"


	21. Chapter 21 - Outside the Walls

It was still very early, but the courtyard was already filled with cadets preparing to the expedition when you made your way to the stables.

"Hello there, Cubie!" A wide smile spread across your face as you greeted your horse. Survey corps horses weren't officially named, but you had named yours Sugar Cubes, shortly Cubie. "Have you gone all lazy and fat during your little holiday while I was gone?" You giggled and patted her head, happy to see your friend after such a long time.

"[f/n]!" Petra cheerfully called your name as you saddled your horse in front of the stables. "Nice to have you back!" She gave you a smile as she made her way to you.

"Thanks, it's nice to be back." You smiled back.

"You seem to be almost done?" She asked as she watched you finish saddling Cubie. "Come on, let's join the others."

You glanced over her shoulder at rest of the bunch- Special operations squad members were finishing up as well. Of course, Levi was there too.

"Uh… Yeah, just go ahead and I'll join you guys shortly." You muttered, quickly turning your gaze down when Levi glanced at your direction. "I still want to check on Eren and the others before the launch."

You waited until the very last minute when Erwin announced the expedition to begin before joining to your squad. For your relief, when it was time to divide into the long-distance scouting formation, you went with Eld and Oluo.

" _What the hell am I doing..?"_ You sighed to yourself, following your team through the prairie. It wasn't exactly the time or place to deepen into gloomy ponderings, but you simply had too much in your mind. " _I can't keep avoiding him forever! I'm his adjutant, damn it..."_ Once again, you tried to assure yourself how you would confront Levi next time you had a chance- But most likely you would just chicken out again. You were still angry and hurt, but now on top of it... embarrassed. " _He wanted to talk and I slammed the door in his face!"_ Only thinking about it made you cringe. " _I acted like one… shitty brat."_ That last thought put up a slight smile on your face. " _Hey wait a second..? I actually miss that stoic bastard?!"_

"[f/n]!" Eld snapped you out of your thoughts. "Two titans in south-east!"

"Got it!"

Your team changed the course more to north-west as you shot up a green trail of smoke up in the air. Thanks to Eld's amazing ability to smell a titan from miles away, you managed to slip away before they even noticed you. Fighting in the prairie was something you wanted to avoid by all costs, since 3dmg wasn't exactly at its best in an environment like that. After two quick breaks and overall an hour of riding, one by one the teams united with the carriage and soon you reached your destination- An abandoned supply base.

"Whoa, look at that… It's huge!" You gasped as you dismounted from your horse inside the base walls.

"Yes, this is the biggest supply base outside **or** inside the walls." Eld nodded. "That's why it's such a remarkable location, the best possible HQ in the titan territory.

"We might made it here safely, but don't let your guard down yet!" Erwin announced. "Teams from 20 to 25, secure the base area. We don't want to have any titans lurking in these ruins! Teams 16 and 17 for the lookout. Rest of you, begin to set up the camp and distribute the lookout shifts for rest of the night."

Everyone did as told and the camp was set up in no time. Sky had slowly filled with threateningly dark clouds, telling you it was about to rain soon.

"Oh great…" Connie groaned as the first drop of rain hit the ground. "There will be one hell of a downpour during the night, mark my words…"

"What, are you scared of a tiny rain?" You grinned and handed a water flask to him.

"No." He rolled his eyes. "But I bet no-one like sleeping, or more like trying to sleep, in soaked clothes! Those cadet tents we put up... they didn't exactly look like very water proof to me!"

"I thought we girls were made of sugar? Boys were… snips and snails, wasn't it?"

"Ha-ha." Connie laughed rhetorically, seeming not amused by your jesting. "It's easy for you to say, you don't need to sleep in a crappy tent like that…" He shook his head as he handed the flask back.

"I don't?" Furrowing your brow in confusion, you took a sip of water.

"You didn't check the lists yet?" Armin joined the conversation. "As Lance Corporal's adjutant, you're sharing a tent with him."

Armin's announcement was such a shock that the water went down the wrong tube, making you cough uncontrollably for a long while until you were able to speak again.

"What… what the-?! No-one told me about this!" You stuttered horrified between of the coughs.

"And I thought you said that everything was fine between you two?" Armin lifted his eyebrow, but didn't look very surprised.

"No, it's not!" You howled in terror as you buried your face into your hands. "It's going to be so fucking awkward!"

"You can't keep avoiding him forever." Armin sighed. Unfortunately, he was right.

"I know, I know… And I won't!" With a sudden confidence boost, you straightened your back and made up a plan. "After the supper, I will go there and I will listen what he has to say for himself! No exceptions!"

"That's it!" Armin gave you an encouraging smile. "I'm sure everything will go-"

"Who takes the first night lookout shift after the supper?" Cadet with the lookout shift list interrupted you conversation.

"I WILL!" You shrieked in panic. "I'll take it!"

* * *

 **! Writer's note: You have been extremely patient, my little munchkins... But do not worry, your wait is almost over..! Soon..! 83 !**


	22. Chapter 22 - Cornered

" _Fuck me, seriously… This is getting ridiculous!"_ You cursed to yourself, pulling your survey corps cape tighter around yourself. Connie was right- The downpour had soaked you in minutes as you stood on the lookout. You were cold and wet, standing all alone on the supply base stonewall, staring into the pitch black night. Not exactly your cup of tea! Thanks to the heavy rain, you doubt you could even see any titans if they would show up. " _Is this really worth it? To stand here shivering instead of talking with that stoic bastard? Oh well, it's too late to regret now, I'm stuck here for the next 20 minutes..."_

"Oi."

" _... Or why not both? Oh well, at least this cannot get any worse."_ You sighed as you glanced to your right to see Levi approaching. He looked very serious at first, but couldn't hide his amusement when he saw soaked (and very fed up looking) you.

"Oh, shut up." You mumbled under your breath before turning your gaze back to the horizon. Who was he to laugh at you? Soon he would be just as soaked as you. Levi said nothing as he leaned next to you against the stone railing. For a moment, neither of you said a word- You were simply too tired and pissed off to not to give a shit anymore, so you just waited for him to do the talking.

"So you really rather get soaked in this freezing rain than see me? Ouch." He was clearly trying to light up the mood, but you could hear the gloominess in his voice.

"You wanted to talk, so now's your chance." You stated quietly and wiped your messy [h/c] hair from your face.

"I wanted to talk to you... but honestly, I don't know what to say. Except that..." Levi hesitated for a while, cautiously glancing at you. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? For what, exactly?"

"For what?" Levi flustered almost angrily. "For letting you down! If I just had listened to you, my goddamn adjutant, it all could have been avoided… Because of my own selfish reasons, you almost got killed!"

"...What..?" Was all you could whimper in disbelief- He blamed himself for the incident. "That's why you didn't..?"

"How I was supposed to look you in the eyes after that?" Levi added quietly, hanging his head down in defeat.

"It… it wasn't you fault." You stuttered, still surprised for his confession. You didn't expect anything like this! "I never blamed you for that. No-one saw it coming, so how you could have known-"

"It still doesn't change the fact I refused to listen to you." Levi interrupted. "I know I haven't treated you right. It was a shitty thing to do, to act like that… But I thought I was doing the right thing." He spoke with a quiet, soft voice, staring into the darkness. "It was really immature and irresponsible for me to make you my adjutant in the first place. Don't get me wrong, you have been great." Levi quickly added after you scowled at him. "It's just… After the night in the woods… I guess I could say I was curious about you. You were qualified to the position and needed a new team, so I thought why not? I knew it was a gamble, but I tried to assure myself nothing was wrong."

You felt like a sudden shock of electricity ran through your body when Levi took your hand, gently guiding you to turn towards him as he took a step closer.

"As the time passed, I…" He hesitated again, running his slender fingers nervously through his wet hair as he tried to put words together. "After losing two friends of mine in the battlefield… since then I haven't let myself to get close to anyone. But more I tried to push you away, more excuses I came up with to get closer to you."

" _What the hell is going on?!"_ You screamed in your mind, eyes locked on your hand in his. " _Is this really happening?! This is just too crazy!"_ Cheeks flaming red and head feeling dizzy, you tried to get a hold of yourself.

"I thought I could keep things under control, but instead I just messed up everything." Levi continued in a more gloomy tone. "Only thing I succeed in was making you hate me. But no matter what I did, I couldn't stop myself from-" Pausing middle of the sentence, Levi looked at you. Slowly and surely, you forced yourself to lift your gaze- Your heart had been racing like hell already, but when your eyes met, it was about to explode. He had again that same, emotional but frustrated look on his face.

"...From what?" Your voice was merely a nervous squeak.

Anxiously shifting his weight from a foot to other, Levi let his gaze wander for a second before locking his eyes with yours again.

"From falling for you."

Every word you tried to utter got stuck in your throat- You just stood there, dumbstruck and speechless. Your knees felt weak already, but now you were sure you were going to faint. Conveniently, Levi took another step closer, wrapping his arm around your waist to hold you close to him.

"I have fought against my feelings for long enough! Too long… I just need to know, could you ever feel the same?" He continued in a more frantic manner, hint of desperation in his stormcloud eyes. "I have no right to plead for your forgiveness, neither to ask you to accept my feelings… But I need to know!"

For a very short moment that felt like an eternity, you just stared at each other- Despite the darkness of the night, you could see the intense glow in his eyes which always made your heart skip a beat. Levi was waiting for you to say something, but you were still lost for words- So, you answered by the only way you could come up with: It was your turn to almost wipe Levi from his feet, closing the very last gap between you two as you abruptly pressed your lips against his. The kiss was soft and gentle, but you could sense the fire between you two. Apparently Levi felt it too, closing his eyes as he placed his hand behind your head to draw you into a more intense kiss. This all made you forget the icy rain and everything else around you- There was nothing else in that moment except you and him.


	23. Chapter 23 - Unprofessional Relationship

"Oh shit!" You gasped after abruptly breaking the kiss.

"What?" Levi blinked confused, seemingly nervous if he had done something wrong.

"I… I'm supposed to be on a lookout!" You stuttered as you casted your eye through the dark horizon. Nothing. " _Thank god…"_ You sighed to yourself. " _Let the titans run over the base while snogging with Lance Corporal..! That would be quite something!"_ As you heard steps approaching from a distance, Levi finally released you from his embrace.

"Like I said... Raining cats and dogs!" Connie's annoyed whimpers echoed from the darkness. "It was actually pretty smart to take the first shift, [f/n]..." He yawned loudly as he made his way to you, still almost half asleep. "It's such a pain to get up after barely-" Connie stopped in his tracks at the very moment he noticed you had company. "C-captain?"

"You are late." Levi stated in his usual uninterested tone, now back to his stoic self.

"I… Uh… I'm sorry…" Connie rubbed his eyes, trying to pull himself together in front of his superior.

"Tch… Just don't fell asleep during your shift." Levi muttered as he walked past Connie, gesturing you to follow him as he headed towards the tent area. "Let's go."

You gave Connie a compassionate smile and a nod before rushing after the raven haired man. Neither of you said a word on your way through the dark maze of large walk-in military tents. When you finally reached yours, Levi held the door open for you. Officer tents didn't actually were much different than the cadet tents- Biggest difference was the amount of people stuffed into them. Cadet tents usually had from 4 to 6 people, officer tents usually only 1 or 2.

"Oh for fuck's sake..." You mumbled as you entered to the dimly lit tent, taking your soaked cape off to squeeze water from it. "It's like I took a swim…" Letting out a deep sigh, you removed your 3dmg and sat on the edge of your bunk after piling all your stuff neatly next to it. Glancing up at Heichou who had been silently standing at the tent door, you couldn't help but giggle.

"What?" Levi crossed his arms over his chest, anxiously shifting weight from one foot to the other as he tried to figure out what was so funny.

"It's weird to see you so nervous." You smirked.

"I think it's more weird how casually you're taking all of this." He chuckled and shook his head, taking his cape off too. "Almost like you saw through me the whole time." He continued as he made his way across the tent and sat next to you, now a bit more relaxed.

"Nah, you did pretty good job on hiding the true nature of the situation. I guess it's just..." You took a moment to put words together. "This past month has been so crazy- Let's just say it's nice that everything is back to normal again."

"How about us, then?" He gave you an asking but somewhat mischievous look, flicking his wet hair back. "You'd say everything is normal between us?"

You were really thankful that he hadn't taken his jacket off as well- The way rain had glued that white shirt onto his skin made it hard for you not to stare when he leaned back on your bunk.

"Hmm… No…" You shrugged, trying your best to suppress your mental nosebleed. "Honestly, I don't think it's ever been 'normal' between us."

"Well said." Levi smiled and placed his hand on yours, gently caressing your palm with his index finger. "So… What do you think about what I said earlier? I mean… Do you want to give it a shot? For you and me." He took a deep breath, weighing every word carefully as he continued. "Together. As a couple."

As the Captain of survey corps Levi was always calm and confident- Like said before, it was weird to see him nervous like this. To be honest, it was pretty darn cute how shyly he suddenly acted, avoiding to keep up the eye contact as he waited for your response.

"Something tells me you're kinda new to all of this?" You didn't want to make the situation to feel any more awkward for him as it was, but it was difficult to hide your amusement. "But… Yeah. I'd like to give it a try." You added with a smile. "I was going to say that this is all happening so fast, but now thinking about it…"

"I took my sweet time, didn't I?" Levi gave you an apologizing smile. "And yes, you're right; Let's just say dating hasn't exactly been one of my top priorities. I tended to keep it that way, but..."

"Awws~! But you just couldn't resist someone like me?" You gave him a teasing smirk as you laid down next to him. Levi was about to say something, but the look on his face flushed from mischievous to dead serious at the very moment his eyes locked on the faded bruises on your neck. Knowing exactly what was going on in his mind, you tried to lighten up the mood: "Hey… Hey! My eyes are up here." You jested, but Levi seemed too wrapped up in his thoughts to even hear you. Only a gentle flick on his forehead finally snapped him out of it, but the timid smile he gave you wasn't very convincing.

"How are you feeling?" Levi asked quietly, turning his gaze down. "I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the infirmary. I really wanted to, but…"

"Just cut it out already, will you?" You groaned rhetorically and flopped onto your side to face him. "I'm **fine.** It was an unfortunate incident, yeah, but I wouldn't change a thing… I did my duty as a soldier. I was lucky to make it out in one piece, but I'd still do it again any day." Seemingly shocked by your words, Levi was about to interrupt but you managed to swat your hand in front his mouth before he could utter a word. "And besides, something like that had to happen so you could finally get your head out of your ass." Unable to keep up a straight face anymore, a vicious grin spread on your face. "Otherwise you would have acted like a total dickhead until the end of the days."

"I'm not going to lie- That really was quite a wakeup call for me." He sighed after you took your hand off. "When we brought you back to the HQ, no-one knew if you were going to make it or not." The look in his eyes turned cold and dark as his mind wandered back to that event, his voice now barely louder than a whisper. "All I could think of was how much I'd regret not telling you how I felt… And what a fucking coward I had been."

You had tried your best to assure him that he wasn't responsible for what happened, but you could tell he was still at least partly blaming himself- The way he clenched his fists as he talked told about the amount of anger inside of him. Maybe the wounds were deeper than you thought? When Levi noticed your worried look, the softness finally returned into his gaze as he gently pulled you into a hug.

"I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."


	24. Chapter 24 - Interrogation

"Seems like you and Captain are in a good terms again?" Armin asked, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Levi wasn't in a hearing distance.

"Huh? Oh-! Right, yeah." You gave him a lazy nod accompanied by a shrug, gesturing him to help you with moving the food crates.

"So… You two talked it through?" Eren, who was writing the supply report, slyly inched closer to join the conversation.

"Uh… We…" Surprised by their intriguing and unsure what to tell them, you nervously glanced around to notice everyone's eyes on you. "What the heck are you all staring at?! Yes, we did talk, if that's what you-"

"Ha! Heard that, Connie?" Jean clapped his hands in excitement before prancing over to his friend.

"Oh geez…" Connie sighed as he took out his wallet.

"Wha-?!" Unable to believe your eyes, you watched Eren run over to Connie as well, demanding for his share of the money. "You placed bets?!" By a quick look, seemed like that most of the gang had placed their bets against you. "Seriously? I'll swear to god that- Wait! No! Armin, not you too?!"

"Sorry." Flashing you an apologizing grin, Armin handed couple coins for eagerly waiting Eren and Jean.

"So none of you believed I'd do it except those two?" You pouted and crossed your arms over your chest.

"Nah, I kinda expected you to skitter off into the woods for the night rather than man up. Or… Woman up… Gah, you get the point." Connie smirked, but tried to put up a straight face after noticing your murderous glare. "And anyways, all that matters is that you guys finally made up… Right? No more drama."

"Yes, they kissed and made up~!" Jean cooed jokingly as he walked past you to collect rest of the gas tanks that were laying around.

"Well… Yeah, what if we did?" You knew Jean was just joking around, but you simply couldn't resist the temptation of teasing everyone a little bit.

"Whaaat..? No way!" Eren chuckled and shook his head in disbelief, but soon exchanged a skeptical looks with Armin who just shrugged it off.

"Did you really?" Connie lifted his eyebrow. "You aren't shitting us, are you?"

"Eren, did you fill the report already?" You turned your attention to him, ignoring curious Connie completely.

"Hey-hey-hey!" Connie whimpered. "Come on, you can't leave us hanging like that!"

"Great." You took the list after getting a nod as a response. "I'll turn this in later."

"Now you are just being mean! Just tell us did you-"

"Did she what?" A monotonous voice interrupted the racket, even poor Connie froze in place at instant. "You brats are always such a pain in the ass." Levi sighed in annoyance as he casted his eye around the messy camp- Your group was supposed to go through the supplies and fill the reports, but as usual, Heichou managed to catch you slacking off. "Are you just lazy or honestly this simple minded? Tch…"

Everyone quickly returned to work without a word, not wanting to give Captain any more reasons for scolding. You were about to continue loading the empty food crates to the carriage with Armin, but Heichou had something else in his mind.

"Springer!" Levi snapped at Connie who jumped two feets in place. "Help Arlert with the crates." He added in a calmer tone before turning his attention to you. "Erwin called on a meeting. Let's go."

"Um… Isn't Erwin's tent in a that way..?" You glanced at him in confusion as you two walked past the tent area. For your surprise, Levi headed towards the northern wall.

"It is. We are taking a little detour."

"What about the meeting?" Skepticism in your voice revealed your doubts if there even was any meeting at all as you followed him up the stairs to the top of the wall.

"We **are** going to the meeting." Levi assured. "Not just yet. There's still good 20 minutes before the team leaders gather up." Offering his hand to help you up the very last steps, he guided you to sit down on the edge of the stonewall. "I figured we could talk here without being disturbed."

The northern wall separated an inner and outer parts of the base, so there rarely was any soldiers on a lookout. In other words, a perfect place for some time alone. It was kind of sneaky of him to take you away middle of the work, but you sure didn't mind.

"You know, actually… There's something I want to ask you about." You started the conversation somewhat hesitatingly, struggling how to put your thoughts to words. Since you and Levi hadn't talk about the current situation between you two, you had tried not to blurt out too much to your friends.

"I'm not going to bite." Raven haired man smirked as you nervously fiddled with a lock of your hair.

"What's the situation between us, exactly? I mean… Are we a couple in a public as well, or..?"

"Do you want to keep it as a secret?" Levi asked surprised.

"No!" You almost yelped after seeing the look of disappointment creeping onto his face. "I don't. I just didn't dare to make any assumptions, that's all."

"I see." Relaxing again, Levi turned his gaze back to the horizon. "Yes, we are in a somewhat tricky situation- I'm your superior and all… But I don't see a reason to hide this. Just as long as we keep things at least somewhat professional in front of everyone else, if that's OK?"

"Seems like we're on a same page, then. I figured out that you wouldn't want anyone think you've gone soft or anything." You flashed out a vicious smirk as you continued. "No worries; I try not to go all smoochie-smooch and cuddly-wuddly for my lil hun bun in front of his subordinates~!" You couldn't help but burst out in a loud laughter when 'your lil hun bun's' face flushed bright red. Levi knew you were just joking, but apparently your words had an effect on him. Stomach already hurting from all the laughing, you were wiping tears from corners of your eyes when you noticed him staring at you.

"It's good to see you laughing." Levi answered to your asking look- That smile he gave you made you blush in turn. "That was one of those things that attracted me so much about you; How happy you always are, no matter what."

"Really?" You chuckled nervously, turning your gaze down to your lap. " _Oh damn it, why he has to stare at me like that?!"_ Though you cursed it in your mind, you loved it; It was that warm, affectionate look that was meant just and only for you.

"And that impish little smirk of yours, of course." Levi added, giving you a rather impish smirk himself- You could tell he enjoyed to be the one making you nervous for a change. "That was what made you stood out from the others in the first place."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Forgetting the shyness, you curiously leaned closer to him.

"What have I gotten myself into…" Levi sighed to himself, scratching back of his head anxiously as he began explaining. "It was the first day when you brats from the 104th trainee corps arrived. It's such a blast to intimidate the newcomers a bit during the welcome speech- It's always almost guaranteed that none of the rookies dares to look me in the eye as they stand in line the first morning… But you did."

"I did?" You tilted your head as you tried to remember that moment. "It was ages ago… How you can remember stuff like that?"

"It kind of struck me." He shrugged lazily. "That smirk you flashed me, that is. A rookie that doesn't turn her gaze down, but also has guts to grin at me like that..? Ever since I had my eye on you. Not especially in a this manner, but…" Levi wrapped his arm around you and gently pulled you closer to him. "I knew you'd become something."

"You are quite something yourself." You rolled your eyes, playfully giving him couple pokes below the ribs. "So, shouldn't we head to the meeting?"


	25. Chapter 25 - Clean Kill

"Did you? Or didn't you?"

"For fuck's sake, Connie… Just let it go, alright?" Jean sighed, tired for listening his friend's continuous intriguing. "She was just joking around! [f/n], silence him already, will you?"

You shrugged lazily, not turning your gaze from the path ahead. Now when the supply base HQ was active and running, Erwin had planned multiple expeditions deeper to the titan region than ever before. You, Jean and Connie were middle of scouting the outskirts of a demolished village. Overall the day had been uneventful, but exploring rundown towns and trying to stay constantly alert was surprisingly exhausting- Luckily, this was the last location of the day.

"Finally we're getting out of here..!" You mumbled under under your breath after a trail of smoke emerged from the ruins, telling all squads to regroup and head back to the HQ. "I thought I'd never say this, but damn I'm happy that we'll be back behind the walls by this time tomorrow."

"Ugh, I feel you." Connie muttered as he and Jean followed you towards the prairie. "I mean… It's great to see the world outside the walls, but it sure takes its toll on a long run- We have to stay on our toes 24/7 because of those giant freaks!"

"Um… Talking about the giant freaks…" Jean pointed at the hill behind you. And sure enough, a huge head popped from behind the mound, scanning the area before locking its eyes on you.

"Oh dang it..!" Connie cursed as the titan rumbled over the hill and towards your team. "It's a fast one… What we'll do?"

" _Why one had to appear just when we were about to leave?! Shit… We could try to outrun it, but-"_ Without time to lose, you tried to quickly come up with something, but were snapped from your thoughts as you noticed both of your friend's eyes on you. "Spit out some suggestions, **please?** Who made me the leader?!"

"Well… You are the highest ranked-"

"If you don't have a plan of some sort, just shut the hell up." You scowled at Jean. "Fine! Just don't blame me if I get all of us killed. Follow me!"

You could already feel the shaking of the ground when three of you reached a small wooded area behind the ruins- A best possible place for a takedown in such poor environment.

"We'll fight, I assume?" Jean asked somewhat nervously as you waited for the titan to catch up.

"Yup. If we'd run, it would just follow us all the way to meeting point." Pausing for a moment and covering your ear with your hand, you shot a green flare up into the sky. "I doubt that everyone would be ready to dispatch right away, so we'd be forced to take it down anyways- We can't risk the others by leading it to them. And… It's difficult to tell from this far, but that one might be an abnormal. So, who wants to be the bait?"

* * *

"You guys better not miss..!"

You tried your best to ignore Connie's horrified whimpers and focus only on the approaching monster. The plan was to cut the leg tendons when the titan passed the trees you and Jean were taking a shelter on. Who ever was fastest would get the kill.

"When it passes the trees, make a run for it!" Jean directed his friend on the ground below. "Just head straight to the opposite direction so it won't turn around!"

"Since you know so well how to do it, how about if we switch places?" Connie laughed nervously. "I really wouldn't mind-" His voice got stuck into his throat as the beast entered the wooded area. It was too late for a change of plans; It was time to strike.

" _Come on, couple steps more..!"_ Holding your hand up, you told Jean on the other tree to wait for it. He looked so anxious for the sake of his friend that he could launch at any second- Surprisingly, he didn't move a muscle until you gave a sign.

Thankfully you didn't wait too long before taking action; Connie was frozen in place, not moving an inch even when the titan's face smashed to the ground only 10 feet away from him. Not wasting a second, you launched to cut the nape before the titan would try to gobble up the little treat in front of it.

"Fuck yeah!" You cheered as you landed on the steaming titan corpse. "Another assisted kill onto my list!"

"Oh look, the cavalry is coming!" Jean, who landed next to you, smirked as two teams arrived at the scene. "A bit too late, unfortunately."

It was no surprise that Levi, Oluo and Petra arrived so quickly; In a situations like this, Levi's team was usually first one on the scene. The other arrivers were Eren accompanied by Mikasa and Ymir, who were the team closest to your location.

"Are you alright?" Levi swiftly dismounted his horse and quickly made his way to your gang.

"Yeah, we're OK." Jean shrugged lazily, seemingly proud of himself. He opened his mouth to continue, but was unable to utter a word when Captain walked straight past him without giving him a single look.

"Uh… I'm… Fine..?" You stuttered embarrassed while Levi carefully examined you, still a worried look on his face. " _Geez, what's the big deal?! At least pretend you're worried about everyone else as well!"_

"What were you thinking? Who gave you a permission to go soloing like that?!" After seeing you were unharmed, his expression quickly changed from worried to angry.

"Soloing..?" Only a short moment ago you had felt so incredibly good about pulling off such a clean kill- Apparently, Levi didn't agree. "For god's sake, since when **doing teamwork** is soloing? What did you expect us to do?!"

"Um… Levi, I don't see the problem here…" Oluo tried to cut off the starting argument, hesitatingly inching between you and Captain. "Kids took the titan down, no-one was harmed… Shouldn't we just go on with the plan?"

For a short moment, Levi pondered the situation with a somewhat confused look on his face- Only now noticing everyone's eyes on you two, he quickly put up that menacing look of his and marched back to his horse without another word to you.

"Let's get the fuck away from here before another one shows up." He snapped the order.

"Oh how this reminds me of the times back then…" You sighed in annoyance before whistling Cubie over to you. "Connie! Snap out of it!" Giving him a swat on back of his head as you passed him seemed to do the trick.

"They… They did…!" Connie gasped under his breath, the sudden realization quickly clearing the glazed look from his eyes. "They did!"

"Alright, Sherlock. Let's go." Jean rolled his eyes, gesturing Connie to hurry up and follow everyone.

" _Really?! Why the hell he freaked out like that?"_ You frowned to yourself, keeping your eyes glued onto Levi's back as he lead the three groups to the meeting point. " _I thought he wanted keep things professional in front of everyone else..?! This is the exact opposite!"_


	26. Chapter 26 - Wrapped Up In Cotton

"You can't keep doing that." You scowled at Levi as you entered the tent.

"Doing what?" He asked in somewhat uninterested tone, busy taking off his 3dmg.

"Not letting me do my job!" You finally got his undivided attention after angrily raising your voice, but his confused look calmed you down a notch. "At first I thought it was all in my head, but you clearly did all you could to keep me from the battlefield! And what was that fuming about that titan we killed? I thought we'd get praised for doing such a good job, but no..!" After regrouping with other teams, you had encountered multiple titans on your way back to the supply base HQ and forced to fight the ones you couldn't outrun- But no matter what happened, Levi had dismissed your every plea to join the fight.

"Oh. So you noticed…" Levi said quietly, finishing taking off his gear.

"Sure as hell I did!"

"Calm down, OK? Yes, it probably was a misjudgement from me to do something like that, but I just…" He nervously ran his fingers through his black hair as he straightened his back, giving you a pleading look not to continue your fuming. "I just want to keep you safe."

"I… That's not…" You stuttered, feeling the heat of embarrassment quickly rising on your cheeks- It was really sweet that he wanted to protect you, but this simply couldn't go on. "If you keep trying to wrap me up in cotton like that and not letting me do my part, I'll just be a burden for others! I could as well do office work for the rest of my life! Which… I am **not** going to do…" You quickly added after noticing his hopeful look. "Why do you think I joined the survey corps in the first place?"

"I guess you're right." Levi sighed in defeat and sat on the edge of his bunk.

"I just don't get it…" You sat next to him, taking a moment to put words together. "You trusted my skills before, but now it seems like you think that I can't even take care of myself, not mentioning-"

"I do trust your skills." Levi quickly interrupted after noticing your gloomy look. "It's nothing like that… It's more that I don't trust on anything else that's happening out there." He stated quietly, turning his gaze down again.

For a moment, you couldn't help but just stare at him. You had worked as his adjutant for a quite while now, but it felt like you only now started to see him as a man he truly was; Under his tough, emotionless shell there was a lonely heart, broken far too many times. Levi had been a lone wolf his whole life- Anyone he let close to him ended up hurting him, one way or another. The fear of losing someone again was the reason why he resisted getting involved with you in the first place, now it was occurring as an overprotective behaviour towards you. You let out a deep sigh accompanied by a sympathetic smile, turning more towards him as you spoke.

"You know, if you keep worrying about me, you can't focus- We should watch each other's backs and keep both of us safe, but I can't look after you if you don't let me." You couldn't help but smirk after he gave you a surprised look. "Yes, you dummy… I don't want you to go and die either."

"I wasn't planning to die any day soon." Levi jested, cheering up a bit.

"Well I haven't either." You jested back, about to tease him about his overprotective manner when you suddenly got an idea: "Hey…! Since you can't keep an eye on me all the time… You should teach me!"

"Teach you what?"

"To fight like you!" Getting private lessons from a legendary titan killer like Levi was something you never even dared to dream of, but now you had chance for it- If he agreed. "If you want to keep me safe, honing my skills to the very maximum is the best way to do so! Right?" You had no idea what he'd say, but you were already too excited about it for your own good. "I'll probably never be even half as good as you, but…"

"Hmm… You do got a point…" Levi tilted his head as he considered about it. "Alright. Why not? I guess I could try to teach you a thing or two."

"Yay! I won't disappoint you, I promise!" You cheered. " _Fuck yeah! Soon I'll be killing those beasts in 'Heichou-style'!"_ Grinning to yourself, you imagined yourself slashing down a whole colony of titans with a single blow. " _Why I never thought about this before?!"_

"But don't think that I'd let you go around soloing even after teaching you all I can." Giving you a teasing smirk, Levi wrapped his arm around you. "It's so difficult to keep my eyes off from you anyways… Not mentioning my hands…" Levi murmured as he pulled you closer so he could press his lips against yours.

"Oh… Well in that case I don't mind." You smirked into the kiss when your lips separated for a second. His hand had found its way behind your neck, gently but firmly keeping you close to him as he kissed you again. His breath growing heavier and kisses more needy, your heart skipped a beat when Levi pushed you onto your back, pinning you down in his bunk. A soft whimpers escaped from your lips when he placed a soft trail of kisses down your neck, only stopping to nibble the collarbone while his hand made its way down to your side and onto your hips.

You were suddenly snapped from your trance when a low rumble echoed from the distance, accompanied by a multiple shrieks and yells. Levi, though, didn't seem to even notice.

"Um… Don't you hear that?" You asked cautiously when the ruckus outside grew louder.

"Titans! Outside the west wall!" A yell from the outside confirmed your suspicions.

"Shouldn't we go to help?" You frowned, giving him couple nudges as you tried to squirm from under him.

"Uh…" Furrowing his brow, Levi let his gaze wander for a second. "They can take care of it?" He asked cautiously, but the horrified expression of yours was enough to give him an answer. Groaning and cursing in frustration, Levi struggled to get up and rushed to put his gear back on. "You'll wait here!"

"What?! No way!" You had already made your way across the tent and grabbed your scabbards before he could protest anymore. "We already had this talk. Want it or not, I'm coming as well!"


	27. Chapter 27 - Sleepover

You were usually in a deep sleep by this hour, but tonight you just kept turning around in bed restlessly. Your bed felt unspeakably good after all those nights in a tent middle of the titan region- So, why didn't you fell asleep by the very second your head hit the pillow? Returning to the HQ behind the walls made it all finally sink in- You couldn't stop thinking about how dramatically these past few months had changed your life in the survey corps. First, the loss of your friends, a promotion to adjutant and the whole assassination incident… And then him. Rumors quickly spread among your friends, but most of them seemed to have a hard time to believe it.

" _Can't blame them."_ You chuckled to yourself. " _If someone had told me couple months ago that I'd be dating Captain Levi, I doubt that I'd have believed either…"_

After couple minutes of more tossing and turning, you gave up and tiptoed barefoot through the dark, chilly hallway.

"Heichou..?" You cooed under your breath as you knocked on his office door. There was no way he'd be in bed yet, such a workaholic he was. " _Damn, maybe I should have changed..?"_ Feeling the heat rising on your cheeks, you tugged the hem of your pyjama shirt down to cover so much as possible and hastily groomed your messy hair into somewhat acceptable condition. " _Oh well, too late to regret now…"_ And sure enough, soon he opened the door.

"[f/n]?" Levi seemed surprised but happy to see you. "What are you doing here at this hour? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I guess I could ask same about you?" You shrugged. "I couldn't sleep." Without waiting for him to ask you in, you squeezed between the gap of the door into his office. He didn't protest, just locked the door before following you back in. As you entered the room, you noticed there was quite a pile of unfinished paperwork on his desk.

"Whoa, seems like the work has been piling up while I was gone..!" You fiddled with a bunch of papers. "You can't cope without me anymore~" You added, about to give him a teasing smirk but for your surprise Levi snatched you into a hug from behind.

"Yeah, so it seems." Levi placed a soft kiss on your neck before continuing. "I'm totally lost here without you."

"Let's get to work then." You giggled, squeezing free from his embrace.

"What? No, you don't need to-" Levi flustered as you sat down on your usual spot across his desk, but you weren't going to take no as an answer.

"Did you plan to stay up all night?" Lifting your eyebrow, you glanced at the massive pile of work on his desk. "I couldn't sleep, so why not to make myself useful? Paperwork is the best sleep medicine anyways." You added with a grin.

Seeing your mind was made up, Levi didn't protest anymore. After such a long time, it was actually nice to sit down to do paperwork with him. Only a month or so ago being in a same room with Heichou was a pain in the ass, but now things were very different. You found yourself occasionally glancing over at him- You had always thought he was cute, but now taking eyes off from him felt impossible. The moment when Levi caught you secretly staring at him and that adorably shy smile he gave you made your heart flutter.

You didn't lie when you jokingly said that paperwork is the best sleep medicine- Only half way through the pile your eyelids started to feel heavy. Letting out a sweet, long yawn, you stretched a bit before resting your head against the desk.

"Someone is getting sleepy." Levi chuckled.

"I'm not sleepy… I'm just resting my eyes…"

* * *

Comfort of the bed felt divine. Still half asleep, you turned onto your other side, tugging the blanket up to your ears. After snuggling into a most comfortable position and about to continue your slumber, a single thought that crossed your mind forced you to open your eyes.

" _When did I went back to bed..?"_ You were already about to drift back to sleep, but something caught your attention: Bed sure felt godly, but there was something… unfamiliar about it? " _Wait… This isn't my bed..?!"_ Now wide awake, you sprung up- It took a moment for you to realize where you were; In **his** bedroom. Only a thin ray of light that escaped through the gap of the door illuminated the dark room, and a quiet, steady scratching sound of a quill on a paper told you that Levi was still working. For a moment, you just sat there, not knowing what to do; " _Should I go back to my room? Or just stay here?"_ Sighing to yourself, you laid back down and snuggled under the covers. " _What a stupid question- I'll stay here, he wanted it or not..! His bed is more comfy anyways…"_

Next time you snapped awake when Levi returned to the bedroom.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." He gave you an apologizing smile as he began taking his harness off. You didn't have any idea what time it was, but probably already past midnight- Levi seemed exhausted, lazily kicking his boots off before crashing next to you almost fully dressed.

"I could get used to this…" He mumbled tiredly as he wrapped his arm around you.

"Get used to what? Working late?" You sneered, warmth of his embrace quickly drawing you back to sleep.

"No, you silly." Levi gave a soft peck on top of your head. "For you waiting in my bed every night."

"Be careful what you wish for." You smirked as you glanced up at him. "Or soon you can't get rid of me."

"Yes, because I want to get rid of you so bad…" Levi chuckled and rolled his eyes as he tugged the blanket over him as well so he could hold you close to him.

Now your body tightly pressed against his chest and his scent surrounding you, sleeping was the last thing in your mind; Inching up a little bit, without a second thought you pressed your lips against his. Levi quickly answered your kiss- Softly at first, but his hunger grew every passing second your lips lingered on his.

 **! LEMON WARNING! Sorry, titans aren't going to interrupt you this time ;D There will be some very sexual material from this point on- If you don't want to read stuff like that, please skip rest of the chapter. You have been warned, so I'm not responsible for any traumas or nosebleeds it may cause you. Huehuehue. !**

Gently cupping your face with his hand, he drew you closer. When his hand traveled to back of your neck, you felt his tongue brush against your lips, asking for more. Levi let out a low hum into your mouth when your tongue met his- Soon he devoured you with such an insane hunger you both needed to gasp for air every time your lips separated. His other hand made its way down your side, now eagerly squeezing and massaging your ass. Whole moment had felt so druggening that you had basically just laid there, but as you finally snapped out of it, you began to quickly unbutton his shirt. It was difficult to see in the darkness, but you could tell his body was just as gorgeous as you remembered- Your hands traveled all across his toned chest, down to his perfectly chiseled abs… The quiet moans Levi let out were pleads for your hand to hurry up and continue its way below his belt.

"You're such a tease…" Levi panted huskily, shivering and gasping in expectation as you teasingly ran your fingertips under the waistband of his pants. It was your turn to gasp when he dug his teeth into the soft skin, roughly biting and kissing your neck as he slid his hand under your shirt. Unable to wait anymore, you hastily began to fumble with the belt and zipper of his pants- He was already rock hard by the time you released his cock. Levi moaned aloud when you gave his stiff member a couple firm strokes, feeding the fires of lust inside of him. As you continued eagerly pleasing him with your hands, Levi smashed his lips against yours again, thrusting his tongue into your mouth with such a force that you almost thought he'd suffocate you. Before you even knew it, he was on top of you, still devouring you as he swiftly pulled your panties off before pushing your knees apart to position himself between your legs.

" _Seems like this has all been building up inside of him for a bit too long..!"_ It was all happening so fast you had hard time to register everything! You'd rather take things a bit slower, but Levi was so overexcited that there wasn't much you could do. " _Oh well, it's not like I'm complaining-"_ You snapped from your thoughts when he grabbed onto your wrists, roughly pinning your arms above your head. Now keeping both of your arms in place with only one hand, he guided his cock's head against your wet opening, teasingly rubbing himself against you. The soft whimpers that escaped from your lips seemed to please him, and so he positioned himself better between your legs- With a one, steady thrust he pushed inside of you, filling every inch of you completely. Levi muffled his hoarse curses of pleasure into your neck, squeezing your wrists even harder in his euphoria. You, instead, didn't make a sound as you were gasping for air while your body tried to adjust to his enormous size. You couldn't hold in the quiet cries of pleasure when he began moving- Slowly and steadily at first, but soon the room was filled with the moans and soft cries as he bashed his hips against yours without holding back one bit. Whimpering his name in pure euphoria, you clinged onto his neck when he finally let go of your arms so he could increase the speed even more. After only couple minutes you couldn't hold the tension inside of you anymore- Crying out his name, you abruptly wrapped your legs around his waist when you came. The sudden tightness around him made it impossible for Levi to hold in a second longer, with one hard push he cummed deep inside of you, muffling his hoarse growls into the pillow before collapsing on top of you. After a short moment of regaining his strength and catching his breath, Levi flopped next to you, pulling you into a tight hug before tugging the blanket around both of you.


	28. Chapter 28 - Secrets

**Levi's POV**

" _Damn she is beautiful."_

Levi couldn't help but secretly stare at the young woman across the canteen. She was playing around with her friends, joking and laughing. Long time ago Levi had been sure that admiring from afar was all he would get, but as the burn in his heart grew more needy, he couldn't help but give in. The night when they stood on the supply base wall, holding each other in the freezing rain- Ever since, she had been his. She didn't knew it, but he had been hers from the first time he had laid his eyes on her. Holding all those emotions inside of him for so long had been difficult for him… And painful.

"Haa..! I knew it~!"

Snapping from his thoughts, Levi turned his attention to Hange who was giving him a rather mischievous look from across the table.

"Seems like Captain Shorty has finally gotten in touch with his soft side~" She grinned, not caring about the daggers Levi was already gazing at her.

"And what might you be blathering about this time, shitty-glasses?" Raven haired man asked in an uninterested tone, focusing on drinking his tea to make sure she wouldn't catch him staring at [f/n] again.

"Come on, like you can fool me!" Flashing another grin at Levi, Hange leaned over the table as she spoke quieter. "You circled [f/n] like a cat of a bowl of hot porridge for a god knows how long. I take it you didn't burn your nose after all-"

"Can't you just talk like a normal person for a change?" Levi frowned annoyed and swatted Hange's hand away as she was about to boop his nose with her finger. "Tch, not like I care about what you're ranting about, but-"

"Ah, so you won't admit it but won't deny either?" Hange giggled and shook her head, leaning back in her chair again. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not teasing you about it- Well, maybe a little, but more than anything I'm happy for you guys. Maybe if she manages to melt the icy block you call a heart, you'll-" This time Levi was able to silence her with a murderous glare- Hange just gave him a nervous smile and hastily got up to leave. "Oh well, maybe this is enough for this time~ I have to go anyways. See you around!"

Levi watched the section commander go on her way- But of course, Hange stopped by [f/n]'s table. He couldn't hear what she said to her, but he had a pretty good guess as both of them glanced at his direction before Hange pranced out of the canteen and [f/n] gave him a somewhat nervous smile and a shrug. Unfortunately, Levi didn't have time to answer to the gesture when all of her friends turned to look at him as well, so instead he just quickly turned his gaze away.

" _Damn four-eyes… Always sticking her nose where it doesn't belong!"_ Levi cursed in his mind, cautiously glancing at [f/n] again just to see her throw a potato across the table straight into laughing Eren's face. " _And what the hell was all that about cats and porridge? Tch… Well, who cares… There are more important matters to put my mind into than Hange's riddles."_ While the ruckus in the other table grew louder, Levi took his time to finish his tea and headed back to his office. After retrieving his adjutant from under the table where she was hiding from Eren, that is.

"Why you always drag me around like this?! All you need to say is 'let's go' or something like that and I'll follow!" [f/n] whimpered, trying her best not to trip and fall while waddling backwards as Levi dragged her across the hall by holding onto the back of her collar.

"Will you ever learn how to act like your age?" Levi sighed, completely ignoring [f/n]'s whining. "Always goofing off or causing a ruckus of some sort…"

"I wasn't causing a ruckus-"

"Is that so? How silly of me to think that a potato war would be considered as a ruckus..."

"Pfft! Well excuse me if I like to have fun! Unlike **someone** …!" [f/n] let out an annoyed snort and flopped onto her butt, tired for walking backwards.

"Oh and I don't like to have fun then?" Levi briefly glanced over his shoulder, secretly chuckling at her stubborn act as he continued dragging her down the hall. [f/n] just muttered something under her breath and crossed her arms over her chest, seemingly irritated.

"Hmm. Oh well." She sighed after a minute of silence. "You may complain about my slightly rambunctious personality… But I know you love it~"

"True. But you could still turn it down a notch sometimes." Levi gave her a meaningful look before releasing his grip so he could open his office door. "Especially tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why?"

"If you don't want to give Commander an unprofessional impression, that is- You'll be assisting Erwin tomorrow." Raven haired man stated calmly as he unlocked the door.

"Wait-what?!" [f/n] sprung up from the floor like a jack from the box, staring at Levi in horrified disbelief as she continued. "No one told me anything about this!"

"Don't give me that look." Levi sighed as he watched [f/n]'s lips curling into a pout. "I didn't knew about it either- Erwin's assistant told me about it during lunch. He apparently has some errands to run, so they need someone to fill-in: Erwin specifically asked for you. I'm not very happy about it either, but what can I do?" The end of his sentence faded into an almost unreadable muttering while he held the door open for her. Levi didn't need his adjutant for anything specific the next day, so he would do just fine alone- But he wasn't very excited about the idea, all the opposite.

"If it's just a one day… I guess it's alright." [f/n] smiled nervously, trying her best to lighten up the mood after noticing Levi's gloomy look. "I was hoping we could begin the training tomorrow, but seems like it has to wait. I do wonder why he wants me, though…" She mumbled to herself, stretching out lazily as she made her way into the office. Seemed like the shock of the announcement had already faded. Levi knew that being in the presence of Commander made [f/n] somewhat nervous- It wasn't unusual, most of the cadets tended to stress about giving the best possible impression to their superiors.

" _Wonder why she was never afraid of me…"_ The thought made a slight smile grow on Levi's face as he locked the door behind him. He made his way behind his desk and sat down, beginning to go through the papers he had been working on before lunch- Really though, he was trying to put his words together in a way she wouldn't freak out again. "One more thing about tomorrow…" Levi started cautiously. "Try not to take any more stress about it, but-" Rest of the sentence disappeared from his mind by the very second he lifted his gaze from the papers, meeting [f/n]'s wide eyed stare.

"But what?" A hint of panic in her voice told him he had already failed.

"It's not a big deal, really, but the thing is…" Now nervous himself, Levi put down the papers from his hands so he could rest his chin against his palm as he continued. "I haven't told Erwin about us."


	29. Chapter 29 - Hope of the Humanity

" _Keeping our relationship a secret? No way! We don't want to hide this from_ _ **anyone**_ _, right? Oh whoopsie daisy, seems like I forgot to mention to Commander Erwin Smith about it! We are like best buddies but it somehow managed to slip from my mind! What? You're upset? Don't worry, I'll tell him._ _ **EVENTUALLY**_ _."_ You sorted the papers in a slightly aggressive manner as you repeated Levi's words in your mind (maybe exaggerating them just a tiny bit). " _Did he honestly think that I would just go and blurt out something? Erwin isn't exactly the first person I'd like to talk to about my personal life anyways!"_

You had a short moment to calm your nerves while Erwin was in a meeting with Darius Zackly. Acting as Commander's assistant for a day was enough to be stressed about, but the fact that you were hiding something from him made you even more uneasy! Levi had asked you not to mention anything about you two to Erwin- He would talk with him later on, which was more than fine by you.

" _But why he had to even tell me that? I would have done just fine in a blissful ignorance! I'm really not comfortable about hiding anything from the Commander on purpose..!"_ With a deep sigh, you collected the documents into two neat piles and placed them on Commander's desk. "Gah, why am I sweating over it so much? It's not like he's going to ask me about it!" You muttered half out loud, feeling now a bit more at ease. Your moment of relaxation was short-lived; Your heart jumped when you heard the door behind you open.

"Sir!" You spun around like from an electric shock, giving a salute for returning Commander.

"I think I already told you this morning that the formalities aren't necessary." Erwin smiled- The overly formal behaviour of yours seemed to amuse him.

"Oh! Right..!" You stuttered, heat of embarrassment already creeping onto your face. " _Damn Levi! 'Just act natural' my ass! Thanks to him, I'm making myself a total fool in front of Commander!"_

"Is there something bothering you?" Erwin had noticed your strange behaviour- No wonder, the agony was almost shining from your face! He eyed you as he made his way behind his desk, but for your relief he turned his attention to the paperwork after he had sat down.

"No, it's nothing." You tried to sound as calm and confident as possible, but you couldn't even assure yourself. "I just… Um…"

"If you are concerned about my thoughts regarding your relationship with Levi, there is nothing to worry." Erwin stated calmly, not lifting his gaze from the papers in front of him. You, instead, were shitting bricks at the moment: How on earth he knew?! "Word travels fast in the military." He answered to the question in your mind, finally leaning back in his chair to look at you.

"So… It's… OK?" You asked nervously, rushing to collect rest of the documents from the side table to break the eyecontact. " _What the actual fuck?!"_

"A close relationship with a comrade has its benefits and drawbacks… Normally I'd prefer my subordinates to avoid such a hassles, but in the end it's their decision."

" _Hassles?! Geez, no wonder Erwin doesn't have a girlfriend..!"_

"But in this case… Please, sit down." Erwin gestured you to take a seat in front of his desk before he would continue, and hesitatingly you put down the papers and obeyed. "I have expressed my concerns to Levi, time and again, about his lack of interest to settle down." Erwin continued. "Most men of his age have already married years ago- He, instead, has given his everything to survey corps, fighting for the victory of humankind... Words can't express how grateful I'm for that, but…" He paused for a moment, deepening into his thoughts. "Let's say it was about time for him to find someone." It had been nerve-racking enough to listen his speech this far, but the next thing he uttered with a smile made the cold sweat run down your back: "Your children will be a new hope of the humanity."

* * *

" _No-one told me that Erwin would be my coocoo mother-in-law… What the hell, really..?"_ Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes and tried to relax- It was a warm evening, shadow of an old oak providing a cool place for you to wrap up your thoughts. Laying in the grass on your back, you listened the wind and chirping of the birds… But soon approaching footsteps disturbed the relaxing moment. When you opened your eyes, Levi's head had appeared into your field of vision.

"Here you are- I've been looking everywhere for you. What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to clear my head."

"Alright..?" He furrowed his brow as he leaned against the tree, crossing his arms over his chest in a relaxed manner.

"If you are going to ask about my day, I'd suggest you to consider twice before doing so."

"Why so?" He asked confused, now looking a little worried about your strange behaviour. "What is it?"

"Erwin knows. And no, I didn't tell him. He brought it up himself."

"He did? Oh fuck…" Levi cursed, but didn't seem that shocked about the announcement. "I should have talked with him earlier."

"Don't worry about it. He was happy. Very, very happy." The eery look in your eyes made it difficult for Levi to decide were you being sarcastic or not, so he just waited for you to continue. "Erwin is known for the drastic measures he takes to bring humanity even a single step closer to victory… But trying to breed his men is going a bit too far if you ask me!"

"Wait what?" Levi gave you a stoic look, unable to believe his ears.

"He was over the moon that apparently we're going to give him a tiny army of Levi juniors! Oh my fucking god, if we'll ever happen to have any offspring, he'll be that 'Creepy Uncle Erwin' who comes around every christmas with some shitty taffy just to remind them how they'll be an important part of humanity's glorious rise and sign them up to the military before they can even hold a fucking sword!" Breath wheezing from all the explaining, you took a moment to calm down.

"You are overreacting." After listening your rambling Levi couldn't hide his amusement. "Maybe you just misunderstood-"

"Your children will be a new hope of the humanity." You repeated Erwin's words, giving Levi an icy look.

"Oh."

"Thank god we were done for the day and he let me go after that speech." You whimpered, burying your face into your hands as you continued. "I was already bouncing off the walls before he brought it up, after that I had to use all my power not to totally freak out. He probably thinks I'm a total mental case… And don't you dare to laugh at me!"

"Sorry." Levi apologized, trying to put up a straight face as you gave him a dead-serious glare. "I'm sure it wasn't **that** bad. I'll talk to him, don't worry about it." He assured as he sat on the ground next to you, tugging you closer so you could rest your head on his lap.

"Are you sure? Not just saying stuff to make me feel better?" You raised your eyebrow skeptically, but couldn't prevent the smile creeping onto your face as you glanced up at him.

"Of course I'm sure. And like you know, I'm never wrong." Levi smirked mischievously.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…" You smirked back, getting a gentle flick onto your forehead as a payback. For a moment, you two enjoyed the warmth of the soon setting sun in silence. You closed your eyes, slowly starting to drift to sleep as Levi caressed your hair, making you almost purr like a kitten.

"So… An army of Levi juniors?" He broke the silence. "Doesn't sound too bad if you ask me..."

"Don't even start..!"


	30. Chapter 30 - Training Begins

"Never thought I'd have to do this ever again…" You muttered under your breath as you attached the 3dmg training device vires onto your harness. " _Last time I dangled in this thing was… ages ago!"_ There was one difference, though; Normally cadets trained without 3dmg and scabbards, but you were fully equipped just as Levi had commanded. He was giving instructions for Eren and Jean who were the ones to hold you up- This made you feel a little bit uneasy. " _What the hell is he planning? There's no way this is going to be any normal training session!"_

"Comfortable?" Levi asked after watching you dangle up for a couple of minutes, making his way behind you intimidatingly slowly.

"Uh… I guess?" Glancing over your shoulder, you tried to see what he was up to. Maybe it was just your imagination, but tone of his voice was somewhat eery. "I asked you to train me, but I didn't realize we would start from the very basics- Yikes!" You yelped when Levi suddenly grabbed onto your shoulder and nudged you backwards. "Hey-hey-hey! What the hell?!" You flustered after finally regaining your balance.

"Yes, we are starting from the very basics…" Levi stated calmly, this time giving a firm push onto your lower back. "But unlike in your trainee corps days, this isn't Keith's daycare center- This time we're doing it in my way."

" _Did he just refer to Keith's training methods as a daycare?! If that was 'a daycare', this is going to be a true hell!"_ You stared at him in horrified disbelief as he made his way back in front of you.

"Any questions?" Levi raised his eyebrow. You didn't have time to even open your mouth when he gave a nod to Eren, who abruptly tugged the wire he was holding. You shrieked in surprise when your world turned upside down- You had lost your balance, now dangling feet up in the air, face on the ground.

"No…" You coughed, spitting sand and dust from your mouth. "No questions."

* * *

"[f/n]... Can't we just call it a day? My arms are cramping…"

"Just couple more times, OK? And don't you dare to complain about cramps! You don't have any idea what dangling up like this for a whole day does to your abs!" You scowled at Jean, who grudgingly gave Eren a sign to lift you up once more. " _That stoic bastard won't go on with the training until I can maintain my balance no matter what happens..!"_

"What this stuff is all about anyways? Yeah, Captain is training you, but why?" Eren asked, tugging the wire once again. This time you managed to shift the centre of your gravity just in time, avoiding a painful smash onto the ground.

"Because I asked him to." You muttered from between clenched teeth, trying to keep yourself focused. "Firstly, I prefer not become a titan food. Secondly, if I ever wish to climb up the ranks, just marking time won't do it."

"And thirdly, you're trying to surpass Heichou one day?" Jean added teasingly.

"No." You briefly scowled at him. "I have some plans for the future, yeah, but I'm trying to stay realistic. Surpassing Heichou? Captain Levi, a.k.a humanity's strongest soldier? Pfft, please…" You were about to roll your eyes but were forced to quickly put your focus on back to the business, shifting your weight to your left as Jean tugged the wire.

"It's not really a bad idea to raise the bar a bit." Eren muttered half to himself. "We might not be in training corps anymore, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to improve ourselves."

"That's the spirit!" You gave him thumbs up, feeling secretly proud of yourself for inspiring others. "Isn't your dream to kill every single of those titans? To accomplish that, you have to-"

" _Note to myself: No more speeches during the training. Focus on what you're doing, that's it."_ You squeezed a rag on your bloody nose, trying to stop the bleeding as you waddled down the hall to your room. It took a great effort to move even somehow normally- You didn't even dare to imagine how stuck your muscles would be the next day! " _It wasn't even half as bad back then when I first started using 3dmg..! No wonder Levi has abs of steel…"_ You finally had made your way to your room, struggling to lay down on the bed. Doing some stretching was probably a good idea, but at the moment you were simply too tired to even think about it. Your head had barely hit the pillow when there was a knock on the door- With frustrated groans and whimpers of pain, you bend yourself up and waddled across the room.

"What?"

"Um… Hi?" Levi greeted you somewhat hesitatingly, surprised by your grumpy demeanor (and rather blasted appearance). He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out as he noticed your bleeding nose.

"Those two jackasses just won't learn to keep me high enough." You answered the question in his mind, gesturing him to come in as you waddled back to your bed. "I hit my head twice, on top of that came down face first just when we were about to wrap things up."

"You seem to take the training very seriously. I'm surprised." Levi chuckled as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hell yes I do!" You snapped, lifting your head from the pillow just enough to glare at him. "You didn't take it seriously, then?"

"I won't waste my time on fooling around- Of course I took it seriously, I just kind of expected you to give up… Or at least whine about me being too strict." Levi gave you a teasing smirk.

"Why? Like I'd expect you to go all soft on me because I'm now your girlfriend?"

"I guess…" He turned his gaze down, running fingers through his undercut hair- Although you couldn't see his face, he was blushing for sure. Sometimes you called him by pet names or said something overly sugary just to see him squirm- You could tell he liked it, but just didn't really seem to know how to respond or behave.

"That's cute~"

"What?"

"You."

"Alright then, little missy. Take your jacket off and turn around." Quickly changing the subject, Levi gestured you to flop onto your stomach as he crawled into the bed. "Your muscles are pretty sore from the training, I assume?" He answered to your puzzled look after you didn't obey, repeating the gesture for you to flip over. You hesitatingly obeyed, still confused about what he was up to. Levi straddled you, making your muscles sing halleluja as he began to massaging your shoulders and upper back. "Is this good?"

You tried to answer but all you could do was some muffled gibberish, face pressed into the pillow. Taking it as a yes, Levi continued what he was doing.

"We gotta take this thing off- It's getting in the way." Pressing his chest against your back, Levi slid his hands under your upper body to open your harness straps. He had barely got the harness off when you already felt his lips on your neck.

 **! LEMON WARNING! Seems like your muscles aren't the only stiff thing around there! You know how this works- If you consider your mind to be too innocent for the upcoming sexual material, skip rest of the chapter. !**

"I just can't stop thinking about that night…" Levi whispered, voice thick and husky. "You don't have any idea how many times I struggled with all those impure thoughts… Ever since you became my adjutant."

"Of course you had an ulterior motive…" You smirked into the pillow. "But Levi, I'm exhausted..! I had a pretty rough day and I'm not exactly in a mood for-" Rest of the words came out only as a whimpers when Levi abruptly dug his teeth into your neck, boldly sliding his hands under your upper body to squeeze your breasts.

"Like back then when you scrubbed that shower room floor." He continued. "I was almost sure you intentionally pushed your hips upwards just to tease me- Damn, I couldn't even look at you because I got so fucking hard every time I laid my eyes on you… Kneeling on the floor on all flours, almost like offering me that great piece of ass…" Reliving that moment in his mind, Levi pressed himself against your body, grinding his already hardened member against your ass. You had declared your uninterest for any 'physical activity' at the moment, but he sure was doing great job on changing your mind! You squealed in surprise when he suddenly spun you around, pinning you down again after turning you to face him. The look in his eyes made your heart skip a beat- It was a hungry, almost menacing look of a starving beast that had cornered its prey. But still, you didn't feel intimidated as you stared deep into those steel gray eyes. When he pressed his lips against yours, you had already forgotten your tiredness and sore muscles, releasing the passion he had fueled inside of you. Giving into the moment, you grabbed onto his cravat so you could pull him even closer, kissing him more passionately.

"I thought you were too tired?" Levi smirked into the kiss when your lips separated for a brief moment. You answered by biting his lower lip, causing him moan into your mouth in both pain and excitement. Before you even knew it, you were on all fours on the bed, whimpering and gasping under your breath as Levi rammed into you from behind. Clenching sheets into your fists, you let out a hoarse shriek of pleasure when he grabbed onto your shoulders, thrusting even deeper as he pushed your upper body down so your chest was pressed against the bed. His grip tightening and breaths growing more intermittent, Levi was quickly building his climax- He cursed under his breath and pushed inside of you by his full length as he came, hitting the spot that made you see stars. Unable to hold it in anymore, you muffled your hoarse cries into the pillow as you reached your climax.

After a moment to catch his breath, Levi finally pulled out and crashed next to you. It wasn't easy to fit into your bed together, but he quickly solved the problem of the lack of space by pulling you into his embrace.

"So…" You panted, wiping off your hair from your face as you snuggled into a more comfortable position. "Can we sleep **now**?"


	31. Chapter 31 - Overachiever

"You said 'ten more minutes' almost half an hour ago! We'll be late!" When Levi show no reaction of any kind, you boldly shoved your hands under the blanket and grabbed onto his ankles. "Get up! I'm your adjutant but I this wasn't in the job description, damn it!"

"Alright, alright..!" Sleepyhead muttered, holding onto the headboard as you tried to pull him out of the bed.

"The breakfast is almost over- I don't know about you, but I don't want to start my day with an empty stomach…" You muttered under your breath, making your way to the door while he sluggishly got out of the bed. "I'm going ahead and grab something for you on the go." You opened the door and were about to step out but were forced to stop by your tracks- For your surprise, you found Eren and whole rest of the gang behind the door.

"Oh, morning." You greeted your friends, surprised for their visit. You always met up with them during the breakfast, so this was unusual. "What's up?"

"Are you going to train with Captain again today?" Eren, who was apparently acting as a spokesperson, started the conversation. "We thought… Maybe we could join you as well? I thought about what you said, and you were absolutely right!" He began ranting with such a vigor that you couldn't say a word. "I told everyone I was going to ask if I could train with you, and they wanted to come too. But I don't know… Only if it's OK with you guys..?"

"Um... I… Uh…" You blinked confused, still trying to process everything he was saying. "I guess… Today we don't have time to train during the day, but I was planning to do one wire swings in the forest in the evening. You can join me if you want to-"

"We will!" Eren cheered in excitement, but quickly added in a more serious tone when he remembered something: "But what about Captain? Do you think he would be willing to train all of us?"

"If you brats do what I say. No bitching or whining."

The look on everyone's face was priceless when Levi stepped into the hallway, still middle of correcting his cravat as he headed towards his office.

"Seems like it's OK." You shrugged.

"Well, well..! [f/n]!" Jean raised his eyebrow, giving you a teasing grin when Levi was no longer in a hearing distance. "Little sleepovers with Captain, huh?"

"So- Does his height compensate for... Well… You know..?" Krista smirked.

"Krista!" Ymir gasped horrified, staring at her normally angelically innocent friend wide-eyed.

"Compensate for what?" You frowned in confusion- It took you a couple of seconds to realize what she meant, making your face flush bright red at instant. "Krista! That's none of your business! None of yours!" You gave each of your friend a menacing look.

"We take that as a yes." Sasha and Krista exchanged a mischievous looks.

"So you two have done it?" Krista leaned forward, giggling in excitement to hear more.

"Well, as a Lance Corporal's Adjutant she's considered as his **right hand** , isn't she?" Connie jested.

"I'll shove my **right fist** up into your ass!"

"Uh… [f/n], you should loosen your grip a little bit…" Eren suggested cautiously, scratching back of his head nervously as he watched you trying to choke Connie. "His eyes are almost bulging out."

* * *

"This is... Surprisingly… Difficult!" Jean stuttered between the swings.

"It is, if you keep talking instead of concentrating..!" You shouted back, launching yourself higher up. "A day or two in a 3dmg training device will prepare you pretty well for this, I suggest you to give it a try as well~"

"Roger that!"

"[f/n]!"

"Huh?" Glancing over your shoulder, you saw Eren catching up with you. "What is it? Oh shit-!" You could barely finish the sentence when your grappling hook came off, sending you dashing towards the ground. Jean dove in for your help, but you managed to straighten your fall in time and launch yourself back up.

"That was close..! Sorry!" Eren apologised, seemingly shocked.

"Nah, it was my own fault for not concentrating! No need to apologize!" You brushed it off, trying your best to hide the fact how shaken the sudden fall made you feel. "So, you were about to say something?"

"Oh-! Yeah, Captain came over looking for you."

"Alrighty. I'm almost out of gas anyways…" Changing back to the two wire technique, you did a swift 180° turn and dashed towards the edge of the forest. Not needing to scant the gas anymore, you went all out with the speed- In less than a minute you already could see a familiar figure at the treeline. "Leviiii!" Levi glanced at your direction when he heard your voice, opening his mouth to say something but ended up just staring at you wide-eyed after seeing your rather speedy approach- It was a miracle you managed to come to a halt without knocking him down, sliding a good couple meters before stopping right in front of him. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to come and check on you." Levi stated as he wiped the sand and dust from his clothes, seemingly annoyed by getting dirt on him.

"So, you'll train all of us tomorrow?"

"That seems to be the plan." He was expressionless like always as he began wiping the dirt from your jacket, but you could tell he wasn't very excited about the idea.

"Already regretting for getting into this?" You smirked, trying to brush his hand off as he kept grooming you.

"I don't mind of whipping some fighting spirit into those brats, but…" Levi muttered and straightened his back, keeping his gaze down as he continued. "You have gotten so into the training that we barely see each other anymore."

"What?" You blinked confused. "What you mean we don't see each other? We spend majority of our awake time together!"

"Yeah, working."

"You're pretty demanding, you know?" You couldn't help but giggle at his gloomy act as he stood there with a pout on his face, kicking some tiny pebbles on the ground. "But… I guess you're right- I think I could spend my freetime some other way sometimes. So, what you have in mind?"

"What I have in mind? Uh…" Levi repeated the question out loud, running his fingers through his black hair as he tried to come up with something. You changed your gas tanks to full ones while you watched his struggle, but after a minute you decided to finally put him out of his misery.

"Since you're fully equipped as well-" You started, glancing at his scabbards. "How about 'a romantic' game of tag in the forest?"

"Tag?"

"Except if you think it's too childish, of course. Or if you're too worried if you can catch me or not~" You added with a teasing smirk. "Don't worry, I totally understand-"

"You're 'it'." He gave a gentle pat on top of your head before launching up in the air.

"Wha-? Hey!" You stood there like a fool, giving him a way too good head start. "Not fair! I wasn't ready!" Finally regaining your senses, you dashed after him.

"Oh, you want to call it quits already? Or are you too worried if you can catch me or not?"


	32. Chapter 32 - Sweet Tooth

"Raisins? Eww! Chocolate chips it is!"

"What do you mean 'eww'?! And do you have any idea how expensive chocolate is? Good old oatmeal raisin beats your stupid snob cookies any day!"

"Not this again…" You mumbled to yourself, glancing over your shoulder at the two noisy troublemakers. Sasha and Jean were middle of a heated argument, both defending their opinion in an unnecessary loud manner. "How many times they've had an argument about food, again?"

"I don't know… This is maybe 5th or 6th time?" Eren muttered. "And we thought that the ridiculous cook off they had would have put an end to it-"

"But it was just a beginning." You finished his sentence, accompanied by a heavy sigh.

"The cook off… Turkey or chicken… How quail should be prepared…" Connie counted by his fingers. "And then there was that ruckus about the pork chops."

"Hey..! HEY!" You shouted at Jean and Sasha, getting their attention only after raising your voice. "Captain will be back in 10 minutes or so. I'd suggest you to get back to work unless you want to continue your conversation on the tracks." After exchanging a murderous looks, they continued piling the crates in silence.

The moment of peace was short lived- Not long after the supper, the quarrel continued. By the time you went to bed you were determined to choke anyone who'd even mention a word cookie even one more time. You hoped that they would forget the whole thing by tomorrow, but oh boy how wrong you were! You had slept maybe an hour when a light tapping sound woke you up.

" _What's that..?"_ Still unsure if it was just a dream, you sluggishly sat up and listened. Sure enough, you heard it again. " _Is someone behind the window..? What the hell?"_ You frowned to yourself after locating the sound- Now wide awake, you got out of the bed and slowly made your way towards the window. There were no trees on the other side, so it couldn't be just a branch tapping the glass. Maybe a bird? It was difficult to see in the darkness, so you sneaked closer. " _Why tonight of all nights I decided to sleep in my own room..?! Why I didn't just go to Levi's room..?"_ For a short moment that felt like an eternity, you stood there and waited. Your nervousness faded away at instant when you heard a familiar voice calling for you alongside the tapping.

"[f/n]..? [f/n]..!"

"Sasha?! What the fuck?!" You swung the window open with such a force that you nearly hit her into the face. "Why the hell you're sneaking around and knocking on my window middle of the night?!"

"Um… Good evening." She gave you a nervous smile, still a little bit shaken for your 'energetic' greeting. "Sorry to bother you… But we need your help- You have an access to the pantry, right?" Sasha intrigued.

"Why you need to get into the pantry? For god's sake, I am **not** going to help you to steal meat!" Trying to calm down, you took a deep breath and rubbed your temples. Maybe you just should boldly swat the window shut and return to bed?

"Oh don't worry, no-one is stealing anything." Hange assured.

"Alright, that's great, but that doesn't explain- Wait a second, why **you** are here?!" Your jaw dropped when you noticed section commander behind Sasha.

"Hange caught me sneaking around in the kitchen and decided to help after I told her what we were up to." Sasha stated like it wasn't anyhow confusing situation.

"Help with what? And why? What the..?! What are you up to?! Just tell me what's going on!"

"We are going to bake cookies."

"Cookies?" The situation cleared to you at instant. "And by 'we' you mean you and Jean? For god's sake… Is this all about the raisin or chocolate argument?"

"Oatmeal raisin!"

"Alright, alright!" You quickly silenced her. You were waken up middle of the night because of their childish quarrel, so you were a little bit annoyed to say the least. Fortunately for Sasha, you were simply too tired for fuming. "Just turn it down a notch, you're going to wake up everyone..! Gah, I'm sorry but… I can't help you. It's really late and-"

"I knew it..! [f/n], you have become so boring!" Sasha's statement caught you by surprise. "Ever since you got promoted... You have become duller and duller! What happened to your adventurous spirit?"

"I… I'm not boring…" You whimpered under your breath as you stared at her in disbelief.

* * *

"Psst! Levi..! Hey Levi!"

"Hi there." He mumbled as he slowly opened his eyes, giving you a tired smile.

"Can I borrow the pantry keys?"

"What..?" Levi frowned, still half asleep him trying to process what was going on. "Keys? I thought that you'd- What the-?!" He startled as he looked behind you, now wide awake.

"Huh?" Glancing over your shoulder, you saw Sasha and Hange peeking from behind the door frame. "I told you guys to wait outside!" You gestured them to get back to the hallway, then turning your attention back to Heichou. "Sorry about that. So, where are the keys?"

"In the top drawer." Levi nodded at the bedside table as he sat up, rubbing his eyes like he had just awaken from a horrible nightmare. "But- What for? And why now? Couldn't this wait until the morning?"

"Cookies can't wait until the morning, apparently." You sighed as you opened the drawer, quickly finding what you were looking for. "Don't you worry- Just go back to sleep, I'll return this tomorrow morning." You assured, placing a soft peck on top of his head before swiftly prancing out of his bedroom. You could just hand over the keys to Hange or Sasha and return to bed yourself- But since you were the one who borrowed the keys, they were on your responsibility. " _I sure hope they'll make some damn good cookies so all of this is worth of the trouble!"_

* * *

 **! Writer's note: Hi guys! I've been working on this story for a quite a while now- A lot longer than I assumed, actually :'D But, like all the other good things, this is coming to an end too. I'm kind of starting to reach the point where I've poured all I had for a one story and I want to wrap it up while it's still good, not forcefully keep it going until it turns into crap :'3 There will be a couple more chapters coming out, but I wanted to let you know this beforehand. So that said, into the business: I'd really appreciate if you could give me some feedback about the story overall, what you liked about it and what I could improve in the future stories. I will, most probably, write another Levi story in the future at some point, so it would be fun if you could throw out some ideas; What you would like to read about, if you have any setting of the story in mind, ideas for the storyline… Any ideas are welcome! I could try and include some of them in the next Levi story. Give me a comment or send a private message :) Thank you~ !**


	33. Chapter 33 - Midnight Snack

"Why on earth you were behind my window, anyways?" You asked, rubbing your eyes and fighting an urge to yawn as you sluggishly followed the duo across the cafeteria. "You could have just knocked on the door… It would have been far more convenient and a way less creepy approach."

"It sounded like a good idea back then…" Sasha muttered half to herself.

"And don't you have your own key? You're a section commander after all." You gave Hange an asking look.

"I do." She stated somewhat hesitatingly. "I just... I kind of forgot where I put it."

" _In other words, she lost it."_

"You know, [f/n], you're starting to remind me of Levi more and more as the time passes." Hange giggled after noticing your stoic look. "I guess it's true that partners begin to resemble each other."

" _And I'm beginning to understand where Levi's abrasive demeanor comes from..! I get along with Hange fairly well, but stuff like this gets on anyone's nerves!"_ You thought to yourself, too tired to even try to wipe the look from your face. "Anyways, you never told me why you're helping us with this?"

"Jean demanded that we'd compete in teams, so Hange offered to be my partner." Sasha answered for her.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why-"

"Cooking is like science." Hange stated happily. "All we need to do is to figure out the right formula to ensure our victory, and…" She kept babbling and babbling, making you regret that you even asked- Though you didn't even listen half of her speech.

"Um… [f/n], like I said earlier- We kept bothering you as a last option, so…" Sasha blocked your way to the pantry door as you arrived to the kitchen, seemingly nervous. "Just don't be mad, but…"

"Alright. Sasha, what's in the pantry?" You tried to sound as calm as possible but your voice came out as dry and tense. It was obvious she was hiding something, trying to buy time before you'd open the door. "I was supposed to get that door open for you, right? That's what I am going to do, so move. And don't look so shocked- Yeah, I may be more uptight nowadays but I still have a fracture of sense of humour left..!"

"I didn't say you've become uptight-!" She forced out a nervous laughter as you shoved her aside and swiftly unlocked the door. When you swung the door open, first thing you saw was Jean. He stared at you like a deer in the headlights, and the reason why cleared you very quickly.

"Jean, it's pretty obvious you wouldn't fit through a window that small."

"You think I haven't realized it yet?!" He snapped at you angrily, face bright red as he tried to struggle free- Jean was dangling 5 feet up on the wall, stuck in a small pantry window.

"His bottom got stuck." Connie, who apparently had fit through before him and then got trapped inside the pantry with both exits shut, was sitting on the floor munching raisins. "This was a pretty good plan until we realized that the door couldn't be opened from the inside. When I noticed it, horseface was already busy trying to squeeze through."

"Shut up!" Jean scowled at his friend. "I just don't happen to be such a tiny, skinny little son of a-"

"I declare the cookie baking competition to begin!" Sasha cheered as she squeezed into the tiny room and began to quickly gather all the ingredients she needed.

"Hey, it's not fair if you get a headstart!" Connie flustered when Sasha snatched the bag of raisins from him before prancing to the kitchen with Hange.

"It's not a speed competition, don't worry about it." You sighed. "But, if you want to catch up, I suggest that you shout out the ingredients which you'll need-" You gave Jean a meaningful look before turning your attention to Connie. "And you collect them. I'll go round back and try to pull the poor bastard out."

"What if it won't work?" Too tired to continue his tantrum any longer, Jean started to look desperate. "If anyone sees me like this, I'll-"

"We can grease you up with cooking oil?" Connie suggested, but Jean didn't seem to excited about the idea. It was an amusing thought, but maybe first you'd try without it. Sasha and Hange were already busy making a huge mess in the kitchen when you made your way through the room and towards the backdoor, but you'd worry about the mess later- All you needed to do was to ensure they would clean up after themselves and make sure there wouldn't be trace of you when the kitchen staff would come in early in the morning.

" _But there still will be items missing from the pantry..!"_ There wasn't much you could do about it, but you weren't too concerned. " _Food gets stolen all the time- And no wonder since the section commander's key is most probably in a wrong hands..!"_

"Alrighty, I'm here!" You announced as you had made your way to Jean's other half. "You ready?" All you could hear was some unreadable whimpers from inside, so you took it as a yes and grabbed onto his ankles. "OK; 1… 2… **3!** "

"Ow! Stop, it hurts!" Jean yelped when you tried to tug him out, almost kicking you into face as he struggled to get your hands off him.

"Oh pardon me!" You snarled at him. "Do you have any better ideas? If not, stop kicking and whining and let me try again! Work with me here! Just… Try to wriggle free or something…" After he calmed down, you tried again- No matter how hard you pulled, he didn't budge. "Jean… Come on… Just… at least… try..!" You hissed between clenched teeth as you pulled even harder.

"What's going on in here?" When you heard a familiar monotonous voice from the inside, Jean began to squeal and wriggle almost uncontrollably. It was difficult to hold onto him, but this was your chance- Putting all your strength in it, you pulled as hard as you could. You finally managed to tug him out, dodging to the side just in time and avoiding getting crushed under him.

"Thanks, that was just what we needed!" You cheered as you peeked inside through now open window, meeting Levi's very confused gaze. At least once Jean's fear for Captain turned out useful!

"I... didn't do anything?" Levi tilted his head in confusion, still trying to figure out what was going on.

* * *

"A cookie baking competition middle of the night? Tch, I figured out something really weird was going on, but never would have guessed…"

You sat in the cafeteria with Levi, following the crazy cook show from afar.

"I'm really surprised that you let the competition continue. This isn't exactly something you'd approve, or am I wrong?" You gave him a bashful smile.

"Oh well, why to interfere now? The damage is already done." Levi muttered, casting his eye around the messy kitchen. "But none of them is getting an eyeful of sleep until they've cleaned up this mess. And that means you too." He added with a stern look.

"I succumb to my fate." You rolled your eyes, but couldn't help but smirk. "So, since now you're up, will you be my fellow judge?"


	34. Chapter 34 - Future Plans

"Your mom always made the cookies, didn't she?"

"Aw come on..! They weren't that bad!" Jean scowled at you. "Yeah, I burnt the first batch, but the second one was pretty good… Right?"

"Well… They weren't totally awful? I mean-" Clearing your throat, you tried to quickly come up with something encouraging after noticing Jean's gloomy look. "It was a tough competition. And as you can see, Sasha isn't exactly celebrating her victory either..!" You smirked and nodded at Sasha who was snoozing standing up, leaning against her broom. "Can't blame her- I'm not exactly feeling too perky at the moment either..."

"That's what you get for staying up all night." Levi stated as he entered the room, Eren and Connie following him hands full of cleaning equipments. "Tch, no wonder we're not getting anywhere in here..!" He snapped and abruptly kicked the broom Sasha was leaning against, causing her to fall straight onto her face on the floor.

"Is… Is she still asleep..?!" Jean stared at her wide-eyed as Sasha show no reaction of any kind, continuing her slumber like nothing had happened.

"I'd suggest that everyone tries to behave themselves and do their work." You gave Jean a meaningful look, keeping your voice low so Levi wouldn't hear you. "Due to small amount of sleep, Heichou is super cranky today."

After spending the whole morning scrubbing the kitchen spotless, Levi had decided that you should clean the cafeteria as well- Probably as a some kind of punishment for your gang's nightly adventures. " _It's not too bad, though... Especially when thinking how many rules we broke!"_ You thought to yourself as you continued wiping the tables. " _And cleaning is something I can do half asleep-!"_

"[f/n]!"

"What?"

"It's almost 10 am- Or did you completely forgot about the meeting?" Levi gave you an unimpressed look before heading towards the door. "You're the one who's supposed to remind me about them, not the other way around…"

"The meeting..?! What… When… Where..?! Today?!" You gasped in horrified disbelief. "I didn't know..! I- Argh, why today of all of the days..?!" Finally snapping out of it, you dashed after him, cursing under your breath all the way to the hallway. "I'm really sorry, I don't have any idea how on earth that slipped from my mind..!"

Levi didn't say a word, leading the way to his office in silence- It was impossible to say if he was angry or not, but you wouldn't be surprised if he was. Instead of grabbing some documents to take to the meeting with him, for your surprise Levi made his way straight into his bedroom and crashed onto the bed as you stood at the doorway dumbfounded.

"What… What about the meeting..?" You blinked confused, still trying to figure out what was going on.

"I'd prefer a nap time."

"You tricked me! Damn you little-!" You grabbed a pillow and bashed it into his face. "I knew I'd **never** forget a meeting! I was all ashamed and sorry for nothing!" Levi responded with a muffled words you couldn't make out, patting your hand to signal his lack of air.

"You're trying to suffocate me or what?" He smirked as he took the pillow off after you released your grip, playfully swatting you with it.

"I was considering it." You pouted and sat on the edge of the bed. "You're sometimes such a meanie."

"Alright, I apologize. Better now?" He didn't seem to be sorry at all, so you just scowled at him before turning your gaze away, crossing your arms over your chest to make sure he knew how annoyed you were.

"And what's this all about, anyways? Napping middle of the day instead of- Yikes!" You squealed in surprise when Levi suddenly snatched you into his arms, pulling you to lay down with him. "Excuse me, but I was planning on returning to work." You raised your eyebrow as he snuggled into a more comfortable position, still squeezing you in his embrace with no intention of letting go. "It's not really fair if we just snooze around in here while others do all the work."

"I think this is fair enough." Levi mumbled tiredly. "They're all slacking off when there's no supervisor around, anyways- You should know that."

"And what's that supposed to mean? I'm very responsible! ...Nowadays, at least." It was more yourself you tried to assure than Levi, who just chuckled at your words. Only a minute ago you had been determined to return to work, but the bed felt just absolutely divine- Closing your eyes only for a second was a thought that was almost impossible to resist.

"Well, you have grown up quite a bit during the past year, I give you that." He stated, forcing his eyes open. "You've become a fine soldier for the survey corps. And yes, you may have learned a little bit of responsibility too." He added jokingly. "Just don't let your childish side die away completely- I like it."

"Roger that." You grinned to yourself. "But I am planning on becoming stronger, that's for sure. Who knows, maybe I'll become a team leader one day?"

"Not if Erwin gets his way." Levi gave you a mischievous grin. "You don't have time to climb up the ranks if you're on a maternity leave."

"Gah, why you had to remind me about that..!" Even just the memory of that awkward conversation with Erwin gave you chills. "I'd suggest that next time we discuss about the topic will be… Hmm… How about in 5 years or so? And don't you dare to tease me about that- **If** we ever happen to have kids, how about if I make you a stay-at-home dad? Ha! I guess Erwin didn't think about that, did he?" You couldn't help but burst out in a laughter when you saw the look on Levi's face- Absolutely priceless.

"Yeah, maybe we'll return to this topic later on. **A lot** later on." He agreed, still staring into nothingness with glazed eyes, most apparently imagining the horrifying situation in his mind. You, instead, were laughing so hard your stomach hurt and tears rolled down your face- The image of humanity's strongest soldier changing nappies was too much for you to bear. "Alright, alright- That's enough." Getting tired of listening your howls of laughter, Levi gave couple firm pokes onto your ribs before snatching you back into his arms.

* * *

You could agree with Levi; You weren't anymore the overly rambunctious, young cadet girl you were when you joined the survey corps. So much had changed during the past year, so much had happened- It was all clearing to you as you casted your eye around the courtyard while finishing saddling up your horse before the expedition launch. It had been a tough road for you to walk, giving you many bumps and scratches… Not mentioning all those times you had stood at the crossing without any idea which path to take. But only thing that mattered was that the road had taken you exactly where you needed to be. " _This isn't the end of the road… Far from it."_ You smiled to yourself as you mounted your horse, secretly glancing at Levi next to you. " _We'll see where it takes us from here."_

 **The End**


	35. Adjutant Xmas Special Part 1

"Look, Levi!" You shrieked in excitement as you ran ahead to the courtyard. "Snow! And a lot of it!"

"Yes, I can see that…" Levi mumbled, seeming less than excited about the christmassy weather. You, instead, were already knee deep in a pile of snow when he made his way through the yard. "What are you doing?" He sighed. "We were supposed to have some breakfast, not play in-" Middle of his sentence, a snowball hit straight into back of his head.

"Wasn't me." You tried your best to look as innocent as possible when Levi scowled at you over his shoulder.

"Very mature." He sighed, brushing snow off from his shoulders before continuing his way towards the canteen. "Go ahead and play as much as you like, but count me out."

"Pfft! You're no fun!" You pouted.

"Hey, [f/n]!"

You glanced over your shoulder to see who was calling you, but instead got a snowball straight into your face.

"Bullseye!" Jean cheered, high-fiving with Connie before starting to make more ammunition.

"Oh you guys were asking for this..!" You laughed. The war was on!

 **Levi's POV**

[f/n] got so carried away by the snow fight she ended up missing the breakfast. It was no wonder she was so excited about the first snow— She had been going on and on about the upcoming holiday season for so long already. Levi didn't see why, though.

"What's so special about it?" He mumbled to himself as he made his way out of the canteen. " _All that fuss for… what? Childish stuff. But…"_ Levi stopped to look at the ruckus in the courtyard. " _She's pretty damn cute when she's excited like that."_

"Oi, haven't you brats had enough already?" He called, ending the heated snow fight.

"Oh damn it…" [f/n] sighed in disappointment, busy holding shrieking Connie down on the ground while Jean stuffed snow inside their poor victim's shirt. "Gah, just wait for a moment, I'll grab something to eat before we go!" Levi watched as she made her way through the snowpiles and rushed to the cafeteria.

"Ah, Captain..!" Connie greeted him as he and Jean waded out from the snowy battlefield. "Maybe you'll join us for the next round?" He smirked.

"I'll pass." Levi lifted his eyebrow, making sure his level of interest was heard from his tone of voice. "I recall you two have some work to do as well?"

"C'mon, show some christmas spirit!" Jean grinned, brushing the remaining snow off from his clothes.

"Ah, the holidays… Chicks love christmas!" Connie smirked, teasingly poking Jean's ribs with his elbow. "What's in the air? Smell of cinnamon and… romance!"

"Yeah, but it takes more to make a woman fall into your arms than just an atmosphere!" Jean shrugged confidently. "You have to make an effort…" He reached to grab a tiny branch from the ground, holding it above his head as he continued. "... Or your gal might be kissing someone else under a mistletoe!" He smirked at Heichou.

Levi had been silently listening the blathering of the simple minded, not showing much interest until now. Jean's grin quickly faded when Levi glared at him, at the 'mistletoe' and then at him again.

"Not meaning that… I… Um…" Jean stuttered as Levi furrowed his brow intimidatingly. "By someone, I didn't mean—"

"Idiot." Connie snatched the branch from his friend and smacked him into a face with it.

 **Reader's POV**

"Okie-dokie, let's go!" You cheered as you returned with your on-the-go breakfast. "Uh… Is everything alright?" Connie and Jean seemed somewhat uneasy, not mentioning Levi who looked even more fed up than earlier.

"It's fine." Levi muttered under his breath. "And…" His lips curled up into a mischievous smile as he leaned closer to Jean as he continued. "I'd like to see you try." He snickered, finally breaking the eye contact with Jean.

"Try what?" You gave the guys an asking look as you followed Heichou back inside, but Connie just flashed you a nervous smile in exchange. What the hell happened while you were gone?

* * *

"Geez, it's freezing in here!" You shivered when you entered into Captain's office. Quickly throwing your food onto his desk, you made your way across the room to add few logs more into the fireplace. "So… What are your plans for the holidays?" You inquired as you sat on your usual spot across him.

"Same as always." Levi, who was already busy going through the papers you were supposed to work on today, stated in an uninterested tone. After a moment of silence, he glanced up from the papers to meet your stoic look.

"Meaning..?" You raised your eyebrow.

"Well… Nothing, really. This?" He nodded at the piles of paperwork on his desk.

"You're kidding me, right?" You stared at him in disbelief, but his confused look gave you an answer. "Oh for fuck's sake…" Unable to hide your amusement, you giggled and rubbed your temples. "Too bad to ruin your plans, but there's no way I'm going to spend christmas like this!"

"You're staying?" Levi blinked confused. "I thought you were going home for the holidays?"

"Pfft, of course not." You rolled your eyes, but gave him a smirk as you continued. "No way I'd let you collect mold here alone."

"Are you sure?" He asked somehow hesitatingly, finally placing the papers back on the table. "I'm not really sure if I'm—"

"What?" You frowned in confusion after watching his squirming. You had thought he'd be happy to hear you weren't leaving for the holidays after all, so his reaction surprised you to say at least. "If you want me to go, just say so..!"

"No!" Levi quickly interrupted after noticing how upset you were. "I don't **want** you to go anywhere, you silly." Giving you a slight smile, he leaned back on his chair as he continued. "I just… I'm not exactly too much of a holiday person." He said quietly. "I tend to keep to myself, so it's been like any other day of the year to me, pretty much."

"Oh." How on earth you didn't realize it before? Levi had told you more than once about his past growing up as an orphan, but you had simply been too excited about upcoming holidays to think about his perspective. " _I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't ever celebrated christmas in any means..! And I've been ranting about how important family holiday it is! Stupid me..!"_

"It's alright if you want to go home." His voice snapped you out of your gloominess. "I'd love to have you here with me, of course— But I understand if you rather spend the holidays elsewhere." Levi gave you an reassuring smile.

"It's settled, then!" You chanted, now back to your cheery self. "I'll stay here with you— No matter what." Giving him a wink, you reached to grab a couple papers for you to work on.


	36. Adjutant Xmas Special Part 2

"So you're staying, too?" You glanced over at Jean, who was helping you with sweeping the main hall— Rest of the day you'd be putting up the christmas decorations, but before that the whole area had to be cleaned from top to bottom. "I was sure your mom wouldn't let you stay—"

"Well excuse me, [f/n], but I'm a grown man." Jean rolled his eyes, not even bothering to glance at your direction. "I'll spend the holidays where-ever I want. It's not like she can force me to go home… And besides, almost everyone else are staying at the HQ, too. And it's not like I'm-"

"Found them!" Krista's cheery voice called from the hallway and not a moment later she and Ymir appeared to the doorway, both of them holding large boxes in their hands.

"We had to turn the whole storage room upside down in order to find these boxes… Better be worth it!" Ymir groaned as she threw her crate on the floor, proceeding on wiping dust from her clothes.

"Don't drop them on the floor like that!" Eren, who was mopping the other side of the hall, yelped. "Those crates are covered with dust! We were just finishing up in here, and-" Eren couldn't even finish his sentence when Connie dashed to the scene, curiosity immediately sparking into his eyes when he noticed the crates on the floor.

"Ah, are the decorations in here?" Without waiting for an answer, he vigorously tugged one of the crates open, sending a huge cloud of dust up in the air.

"Connie!" You squealed horrified, but the damage was already done. "We were just done cleaning! Now we need to do that area all over again or Captain will let us have it!"

"Sorry..!" Connie coughed, seemingly surprised about the mess he had just made. "How I was supposed to know..?"

"How about… Maybe thinking before acting, jockey?" Ymir stated sarcastically. "You should try it sometime."

"It's alright, we can clean it up together." Krista tried to calm the situation. "Let's just take a look at the decorations first; I want to see what everything they got stored for us..!"

"Fine." You sighed. "Just a quick peek, but that's it— We should be already done in here and Captain could be back at any minute..!"

"These look… eh… pretty old." Seemingly disappointed on what she saw, Krista pulled out a worn out christmas garland from the box. "These are almost falling apart..!"

"I guess the yearly budget doesn't include a new set of holiday decorations… Or am I right, [f/n]?" Jean asked as the two of you went to take a look at the decorations as well. You were trying to come up with something witty as a response, but couldn't even open your mouth when a piercing shriek of terror made all of you startle. Screamer was Krista, who grabbed the broom from Jean and bashed the decoration box with it.

"What the-?!" For a second you just stood there speechless as Krista continued smashing the hell out of the box, sending bits and pieces of ruined christmas decorations all over the place. "What the hell are you doing?!" You gasped in shock. "They can't be **that** bad! Stop that!"

"T-there…" Krista sobbed, giving up the racket only when Ymir grabbed a hold of her. "In the box..! Something touched me, it had to be a rat!"

"You're serious?" You stared at her in disbelief. "I mean… Just the fact that you can fight titans but you're scared of a rat..?! I… Argh, forget it!" Taking a moment to calm down, you took a deep breath and rubbed your temples. "There's no time to worry about the decorations; We need to get this shit cleaned up and then we'll figure out the rest. Levi could be back literally any second now, and I can only imagine what he has to say about this…" You lifted your gaze to receive a pleading looks from your friends— You could tell right away what they had in mind. "Damn with you guys… Fine!" You shoved your broom into Eren's hands and marched towards the hallway. "But I can buy you only… from 5 to 10 minutes? So chop-chop!" You commanded on your way out. This wasn't the first or definitely not a last time you were sent out to stall Heichou. "This is starting to become a habit..!" You muttered under your breath as you hustled towards the meeting room.

Only after a minute or so waiting in the hallway, the door finally opened and people poured out of the meeting room. Luckily for you, Levi exchanged few words with Erwin before heading out; Every minute spend gave your friends a teeny bit more time to fix the mess they had caused.

"How was the meeting~?" You chanted when Levi stepped to the hallway.

"Awfully long and boring." He smiled as he saw you, seemingly surprised but happy to find you there waiting for him. Usually you accompanied him in these meetings, but this time you had been left to supervise the cleaning task while Levi was away. "Too bad you couldn't be there— I know how you love those meetings." Levi jested, playfully pulling you into his arms.

"Yeah, I bet I would've enjoyed it." You sneered, gladly accepting the invite into his embrace. For a short moment neither of you said a word, simply enjoying being close to each other— When Levi held you in his arms like this, you always got that warm, fuzzy feeling down in your stomach; You purred like a kitten as his scent and warmth surrounded you, making you feel like there wasn't a single worry in the world.

"So…" He finally released you from his embrace when the very last people left from the meeting room. "What gives me this pleasure? I take that the cleaning job is done?"

"They were just finishing up when I left—" It wasn't a lie, since they **were** finishing up at the very moment you two spoke... There just happened to be a bit more finishing up to be done, but still. "I decided to sneak out a bit earlier so we could have a moment alone."

"Is that so?" Levi smirked mischievously. "Slacking off, you naughty girl… But I guess I can let it slide— Just this once." He placed a soft peck on your forehead as he gently took your hand in his, guiding you to follow him to the direction of the main hall.

"Hey, Levi…"

"What is it?"

"I'm pretty sure I already know the answer, but… Is there any possibility that the regiment budget would cover a new set of holiday decorations? Just asking..!"


	37. Adjutant Xmas Special Part 3

" _Oh dang it… What am I going to do..?"_ Biting your lower lip, you slowly paced back and forth in the captain's office. " _How on earth I were able to forget something like that? Now there's only few days to come up with something…"_ You furrowed your brow as you tried to think of something, scanning the room with your gaze for ideas. " _Maybe a book? He likes reading…"_ Levi had quite a collection of books in his office, which in the other hand lead you to another problem: " _He must've read all military tactic books there are…"_ You sighed to yourself as you picked a book from the shelf, lazily flipping through the pages before placing it back to its place. " _If he'd be into… fiction or… poetry… selection would grow significantly. But… Ugh, no."_ It was almost impossible to even imagine Heichou reading poetry— There was just something so wrong with the image. "Roses are red, violets are blue…" You muttered under your breath. "I don't have a gift for him, I'm totally screwed." If you'd ask him what he wanted for christmas, Levi would surely just say that he didn't need anything. " _And I want it to be a surprise, anyways… Whatever it is I'll give him, that is."_ You were forced continue your struggle for some other time when Levi finally returned from Erwin's office.

"Having a break?" He asked, closing the door behind him as he entered the room.

"Yeah." Fighting an urge to yawn, you flopped back into your chair and started going through the documents you had worked on earlier. "A deserved break, if you're wondering; I got everything done… Except these." You handed the papers to him. "As you can see, there's something missing…"

"Oh for fuck's sake…" Levi cursed when he realized what you meant. "Shitty-glasses hasn't signed these— Stupid of me to think she would've remembered..! Why today of all of the days… I literally don't have energy to deal with her." Raven haired man sighed as he crashed on the sofa next to wall, seemingly exhausted only about the thought.

"I can take care of it." You suggested, standing up to grab the forms. Levi didn't care too much about dealing with Hange, to put it mildly— You, instead, got along very well with the section commander, so you could do Levi a favor and get the signatures for him.

* * *

No-one seemed to be present when you arrived to Hange's study. It was a total opposite of Levi's office; First word you could think of was cluttered. Tons and tons of books and papers piled on top of each other in every corner of the room, a bookcase stuffed full of all kinds of unsorted items that could fell onto your head at any moment. Tiptoeing across the messy floor filled with mixed papers and trash, you placed the forms on section commander's desk to wait for her return.

" _No wonder he doesn't like coming here…"_ You thought as you scanned the messy room with your gaze. "If all this clutter is enough to make **me** feel slightly claustrophobic... I wouldn't be surprised if it'd give Levi a panic attack."

"Well said." A voice from the other side of one of the book piles made you startle— Not a moment later Moblit's head peeked from behind it. "I try to tidy up the place every once in a while… But it's like fighting a losing battle, if you know what I mean." He sighed.

"I think I do." You snickered, quickly grabbing a hold on the dangerously tilting book pile so Moblit could safely squeeze from behind it. "What's all of this stuff anyways?"

"Section commander's research notes. Most of it, at least."

"Oh wow…" This really piqued your interest. "Hange knows more about the titans than anyone— All this information must be invaluable..!"

"True. It's not much of a use like this, though." Moblit sighed again, placing the books he was holding onto the side table next to the door.

"I can only imagine what everything I could learn from these…" You muttered half to yourself as you snatched few documents from the pile to eye on. "I'd love to take a closer look sometime..!"

"Be my guest~!" Hange chuckled and gave a pat on your shoulder, seemingly pleased for your interest towards her work.

"What the-?!" You shrieked in surprise when you found section commander standing next to you. "What..?! When..?! Argh, why she always has to do that?" You exchanged looks with Moblit, still trying to recover from your mini heart attack.

"Some of the notes may be a bit… scattered around, but—" Hange chanted as she made her way over to a book pile next to her desk. "I think the most important ones are right... here!" You and Moblit could do nothing but to watch in terror when the tower of books came crashing down after Hange roughly snatched a thick pile of papers and a notebook from the bottom of it. She didn't seem to even notice, handing the documents to you with a happy smile. "There you go~! These should get you started. When you're done with those, you can freely take a look if you can find anything else interesting." She gave you another wide smile. "So, what did you need? Ah, running an errand for Captain Shorty?" She didn't even wait for an answer after noticing the forms on her desk, swiftly scribbling her signature on each one of them. "Are these the ones from the last meeting? I tend to forget…"

"Section commander, please read the documents before signing them..!" Moblit pleaded, giving you an impression this wasn't the first time he had to remind Hange about doing so. "Or at least give them to me so I can read them for you—"

You were too wrapped up in your thoughts to follow the conversation as you flipped through the papers Hange had given you— Most of the text was written in a messy handwriting and rather difficult to read, not mentioning all the notes and little scribbles all over the pages. It wasn't unreadable, but challenging to make sense of to say at least.

"...Titan types and variations… Scouting and catching methods… S&B experiments/results…" You read the titles quietly under your breath, still astonished by the amount of information in your hands. "Hey, Hange? Do you think I could borrow these for a while? I got an idea."


	38. Adjutant Xmas Special Part 4

"... if I rewrite these parts after the meeting…" You leaned against the desk with other hand, going through the papers in front of you. "You could sign them first thing tomorrow morning… Maybe then we can— Hey! Are you even listening?" You flustered as you glanced at him— Levi, who was sitting behind his desk, seemed to pay more attention to your behind than your words.

"What?" He snapped out of his daydreams. "No, I was listening-"

"No you weren't." You scowled at him. "You were too busy staring at my ass."

"Alright, you got me." Levi grinned. "I'm having a bit hard time to focus on work this morning." He added with a wink.

"So it seems…" You sighed and collected the documents into a neat pile, about to return to your place across his desk. You couldn't even take one step when Levi grabbed onto your hips, making you squeal in surprise as he abruptly pulled you onto his lap.

"It's your fault." He cooed into your neck, hugging your body tightly against his. "You are such a distraction."

"Oh, forgive me." You stated sarcastically. "I'll try my best to be less distracting as we continue on **working**."

"Tch." Levi clicked his tongue as you tried to squirm free from his embrace, tightening his grip instead. "Come on… I know we have a tight schedule, but I need some love too." He murmured, still busy on nuzzling your neck. "I missed you last night… and this morning…" Levi continued, his breath growing heavier between every word. His hot breath on your neck sent shivers down your spine, but you tried not to show it.

"You can't even spend one night without me anymore?" You gave him a smirk before placing a soft kiss on his lips. "But hey, we really need to work."

Not caring about your protests, Levi tugged you even closer to him— Something hard pulsing against your behind told that the paperwork was last thing in his mind.

"How do you think I could focus on working while being this hard?" His words turned into more of a husky moans as he pressed his hard-on against your lower back. "We can have a quick break before the meeting…" Levi whispered as he gently turned your face towards his and pressed his lips on yours. Your resistance was futile from the very beginning— When you felt his tongue brush against your lips, you couldn't help but to give in. Kissing quickly grew more passionate, Levi not wasting any time as he began to unbutton your shirt. You giggled as he snatched you up into his arms and laid you on his desk, swiftly climbing on top of you. He pinned your arms above your head before burying his face into your neck, making you purr like a kitten by kissing and nibbling the soft skin. Suddenly, Levi froze for a fracture of a second before quickly lifting his gaze to the door— Your heart jumped all the way up to your throat when you heard the door swing open.

"Captain, the meeting is-" A familiar voice managed to utter before the silence fell into the room. Already cringing for the upcoming embarrassment, you slowly tilted your head backwards to see the intruder— Petra and Gunther stood at the doorway, both seemingly shocked and lost for words.

"How many times I need to tell you to **knock**?" Levi almost growled, extremely annoyed for the interruption. You expected him to get off from you, but he didn't move a muscle as he glared at his subordinates.

"I-I'm sorry!" Petra stuttered. "We were told to inform you that the meeting is already beginning!" She squealed before quickly backing off to the hallway with Gunther and slamming the door shut.

"Tch. Fucking brats…" Levi furrowed his brow. "So, where were we?" He smirked as he glanced down at you.

"What?" You blinked confused. "You can't be serious!"

"What's wrong?" Levi sighed in disappointment as you struggled to get him off from you.

"It's quite a turn off when your subordinates crash in middle of… that!" You huffed as you buttoned your shirt, trying to cool off the redness of your cheeks. "Besides, didn't you hear what they said? The meeting is about to begin, almost 20 minutes earlier than supposed to."

"Honestly…" Levi sighed, crashing back into his chair. "I don't really care." He pouted, giving you a pleading look.

"Aw come on!" You couldn't help but giggle at his stubborn act. "I know we have a lot of work on the line before the holidays… But we need to get everything done if we want to have those few extra days off, right? Would it make you feel any better if I'll promise to make this up to you later today?" Giving him a teasing smirk accompanied by a wink, you reached over to place a soft peck on top of his head.

"But I want it now!" He whined, but seemed to succumb to his fate.

"Let's go." You stated firmly as you held the door open for the stubborn Heichou.

* * *

You spent so little time in your own room that you could almost say you had unofficially moved into Levi's room, sleeping there with him nearly every night. Although you should've expected it, it still had taken you by surprise how bummed out Levi had been for you sleeping in your own room last night— At first he had been sure you were secretly mad at him for something, but after a lot of convincing he believed your explanation of working late and that didn't want to disturb him by coming to bed so late. It was only a half of the truth; You were busy preparing his christmas gift, and it would take one or two sleepless nights more to get everything done in time.

"The lack of time doesn't concern me nearly as much as trying to keep this as a secret from Levi." You sighed, placing papers from one pile to another. You and Sasha had claimed one of the tables in the lounge for yourself, both working hard on transcripting Hange's research notes— It had occurred to you that you'd never get it all done by yourself, but luckily Sasha was eager to help; If you'd provide her a few hunks of meat from the officers' pantry, that is.

"I can only imagine… Hiding anything from Captain sounds impossible." Sasha shook her head. "It sometimes feels like he has eyes everywhere..! He knows everything about everyone without even trying."

"Very encouraging. Thanks, Sasha." You stated sarcastically and gave her a stoic look. "And you know, it's called concentrating— Levi is a man of few words, so instead of talking he listens and keeps an eye on what's happening around him." You shrugged. "It's not that difficult."

"Speaking of the devil..!" Giving you a nudge, Sasha nodded at the direction of the doorway.

"Oh dang it..!" You quickly started to put away the research materials before Levi would see them. "Ugh… Sasha, could you..?"

"Don't worry about it, just go." She reassured you with a smile, gesturing you to go to Levi while she would collect all your stuff.

"What you brats were up to?" Levi asked when you walked over to him, occasionally glancing over your shoulder at Sasha.

"We… Eh… You know, just some... lady stuff." That was a topic you knew Levi would never question or have any interest to intrigue about— As expected, it worked like a charm.

"...I see." Levi furrowed his brow at your answer, but quickly changed the subject despite being puzzled. "So, anyways… You got a minute?"

Levi took your hand after you gave him a nod as an answer, leading you across the room. For your surprise, he halted at the closet door, taking a quick look around before slipping into the closet with you— Apparently it was your turn to be puzzled.

"Levi..? What are we doing here?" You asked in confusion. It would take a while for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, but you could feel Levi's presence very close to you.

"Why so baffled?" He asked in a mischievous tone. "This isn't the first time we're in this closet together."

"Ah, right..! That stupid 7 minutes in heaven -challenge…" The embarrassing memory instantly brought heat onto your cheeks. Before starting as his adjutant, you had indeed spent a moment in that very same closet with Captain— Nothing happened, but it still wasn't necessarily the best way to start your new career.

"Heh. Stupid, you say?" Levi snickered as he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close to him. "I guess it was kinda stupid… But I still liked it."

"I'm surprised you can even remember it—" You smirked into the hug. "I don't think I've ever seen you **that** hammered."

"That brings us to the reason why I've brought you here; Since my memories are rather hazy and… well… it didn't go as well as it could have…" Gently cupping your face with his other hand, Levi drew you closer so he could place a soft kiss on your lips. "I think it would be fair to give it another go."

"Is that so?" You couldn't help but to smirk at the idea. "Who's taking time? And if I recall, back then you said something about 'being able to do less than 7 minutes'? To 'give me a piece of heaven', that is."

"I think I've proven that to you more than once already." Levi clicked his tongue before answering to your jesting with a more intense kiss. "But I'll gladly do it again."


	39. Adjutant Xmas Special Part 5

"Leeeeviiii…!"

"...Ugh… What..?" He slowly opened his eyes, giving you a somewhat annoyed look. "How you can be that energetic..? It's like 7 a.m or something..."

"Today is the day, you silly sleepyhead!"

"I am aware of that, but does that mean you necessarily have to— Uagh!" Levi squealed in surprise when you dove under his blanket, laying your upper half on top of him so you you could pop your head out from his side of the bed. "What are you doing?" He asked in confusion, now somewhat amused by your strange behavior.

"Just… a second… Nnngghh..!" You had to stretch your body to its limit to reach the item you had hidden under the bed last night. "Ha~! There we go..!" You chanted as you snatched the package into your hands and flopped next to Levi, handing the neatly wrapped gift to him. "Merry Christmas, Levi~!"

"I have to open this right away? You don't have a patient bone in your body." He snickered, giving a gentle flick onto the tip of your nose. "But alright then—" Levi examined the gift carefully before opening it, weighing it in his hands as if trying to guess what was in it. "A book?" He raised his brow when he saw what revealed from the wrapper.

"Not just any book! Take a look inside..!"

"Titans 101?" Levi read the title from the inner page. "Wait a minute… You did all this?" He was seemingly impressed by what he saw, flipping through the pages as he took a quick look at the titan guidebook.

"It's pretty much a compressed version of Hange's research notes— Translated to a language common people can understand, that is." You chuckled a bit nervously. "But I didn't do it all by myself— Sasha helped me with the transcribing and Moblit kindly provided the illustrations. And, of course, Hange gave me a permission to use her notes in the first place."

"It's all in here? No wonder you acted all secretive the past week— You must have worked hard to get this done in time..!" Levi placed a soft kiss on your forehead and wrapped his arm around you. "You don't even know how grateful I'm for this; Hange's theories are interesting— And even though I hate to admit it, she knows what she is talking about— But her ramblings tend to give me a headache. A big one. And… ... ...Why this titan is wearing a vest and a top hat?"

"I added some artistic details." You couldn't help but giggle at the Levi's reaction; He looked equally confused and amused, but soon just laughed at the image as well.

"This is great. Thank you." He chuckled, still busy flipping through the pages.

"You don't have to read it right away, you know." You gave him a stoic look after watching him fiddle with the book for a good few minutes in silence.

"Sorry." Levi gave you an apologizing look, finally putting the book away. "You shouldn't give me so distracting gifts." He added with a wink. "And of course, I have something for you too." Levi got up from the bed and made his way to another side of the room— He took something from the chest of drawers, but didn't return to you right away; Instead, Levi took a short moment to carefully examine the mystery item in his hands, deepened into his own thoughts. You had tried to wait patiently, but every passing second fed your curiosity. His somewhat strange behaviour didn't help, all the opposite! After a short moment that felt like an eternity, Levi finally returned to you. "Here. Sorry that it's not wrapped, but..." He handed you a small pendant as he sat next to you on the bed.

"Oh wow..!" You gasped. "It's really beautiful!"

"It was my mother's."

"What?" You looked at Levi in disbelief— This really took you by surprise. Levi rarely spoke about his mother, so you knew how touchy the subject was. It was clear that losing his mother such a young age had left Levi emotionally scarred, also being the reason of his usually cold and distant demeanor.

"I don't remember much about her, but…" Levi said quietly, turning his gaze down to his lap. "I remember that against all odds, she was a good, loving mother. I doubt that pendant itself has too much value— Still, it's the only thing I have left of her."

"B-but… I can't take this..!" You stuttered, still amazed by the gift he had given you. Even if the pendant wasn't valuable, the personal value was something that couldn't be counted in money. "I mean… Are you sure you want me to have it?"

"I'm sure." Levi pulled you into his embrace again, resting his chin against your head. "I thought about it for a long time— Sometimes you just need to learn to let go, and I've clung onto it for too long already... Even though you never got to meet her, I know she'd want you to have it."

"I don't know what to say… Thank you, Levi."

"Silly you, no need to get all emotional..." Levi jested a bit when he saw how touched you were by the gesture, but you could tell he wasn't that calm and collected himself. "I love you... Merry Christmas."

* * *

"Wow, it looks great in here!" You almost couldn't believe your eyes when you and Levi walked to the main hall— While you had been busy working on the transcript, your friends had taken the decoration disaster to their own hands; Whole hall had been decorated from top to bottom with self-made decorations.

"Awesome, right?" Krista gave you a warm smile when she saw you enter the room. "And it doesn't stop here… Take a look at there..!" She said and pointed at the table across the room.

"What the..?!" Now you were sure you were dreaming— Table was full of christmas food, and it sure enough wasn't from the canteen. "Where did all this food came from?"

"Jean-boy! Jean-boy, help me with these, will you?"

Your question was answered immediately when you heard a familiar voice from the other side of the room— You turned around to see no-one else but Ms. Kirstein making her way down the hall, hands full of food and decorations.

"If the mountain won't come to you…" Krista snickered, giggling to herself as she rushed to help Jean's mother.

"Well isn't it lively in here…" Levi muttered under his breath— He was expressionless as usually, making it difficult for you to decide if he was more happy or annoyed about the situation. "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing." He added after you gave him an asking look.

"Ah, Captain Shorty and [f/n]..! Merry Christmas~!"

You couldn't even glance over your shoulder when Hange had already squeezed between you and Levi, abruptly wrapping her arms over both of your shoulders.

"It's great that both of you decided to join us~!" Hange chanted, giving Levi a meaningful look before turning her attention to you. "You sure are a miracle worker, [f/n]; All these years I've been working with Levi, this is probably the first time I see him step his foot in this room on christmas! Or step his foot outside his office, that is..!"

"And it probably will be the last time too if you won't turn it down a notch soon…" Although you made it sound like a joke, you hoped that the overly-excited section commander would take the hint— Levi said nothing, staring into nothingness with a glassy look in his eyes. By the first look he looked so calm it was almost scary, but the vein throbbing in his forehead told you the truth about his current mindset.

"Aw come on! And hey, I definitely want to see the cutest couple of the regiment under the mistletoe later in the evening..!" Hange laughed, not taking the hint until you elbowed her below the ribs. "But… Eh… I'm just happy to see you here. Both of you!" Finally releasing her grip, she gave a pat on your shoulder before skittering away.

"So… Ehem… Alright, then." You cleared your throat, trying to come up with something comforting to say about the encounter with the section commander.

"It's fine." Levi read your mind. "It's fine. Happy thoughts…" He sighed, giving you a slight smile as he took your hand in his.

"I'm proud of you." You smirked, entwining your fingers with his. "How about if we'd go get a mugs of eggnog? Extra strong one for you."

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

 **Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year~!**


End file.
